AN ENGINEER who smashed a glass into another man’s neck in a Leamington town centre bar has been ordered to pay his victim compensation after he narrowly escaped being jailed.
Ricky Mayhew had pleaded guilty to maliciously wounding Luke McKiernan during the incident in the Clink Cellar Bar, and common assault on two women who were hit by flying glass.
A judge at Warwick Crown Court heard Mr McKiernan had a six-inch wound to his neck which needed 30 stitches and has left him with a permanent scar.
Mayhew, of Plymouth Place, Leamington, was ordered to pay him £2,000 compensation after being given a 20-month jail term suspended for two years.
The 32-year-old was also ordered to do 300 hours of unpaid work and to pay £340 costs, and was made subject to an electronically-tagged curfew from 7pm to 7am for six months.
Prosecutor Jennifer Josephs said that on August 27 last year Mayhew had been to various pubs in Leamington before ending up at the Clink Cellar Bar in Warwick Street.
At shortly after midnight Mr McKiernan bumped into Mayhew on the dancefloor and turned to speak to him, putting his arm on his shoulder as he leaned forward to talk to him.
“The defendant reacted by pushing him away, raising his glass, stopping and then hitting him to the neck with the glass.”
Miss Josephs said as a result of the blow, Mr McKiernan suffered a 15cm wound to his neck, going through all the layers of skin and into the muscle.
He also had two other less severe wounds, and two young women also received slight injuries from flying glass.
Graeme Simpson, defending, explained it was Mayhew’s perception that he was being grabbed round the neck, and his reaction had been a single blow, for which he had shown remorse.
He pointed out Mayhew had left the bar after the incident, but later handed himself in to the police.
Mr Simpson added Mayhew had a degree in engineering and a very good job in management, which he would lose if he was jailed, which would ‘set him back years.’
Sentencing Mayhew, Judge Lockhart told him: “I have no doubt Mr McKiernan had taken drink, as had you.
“I find that Mr McKiernan bumped into you and put his arm round your shoulder, but I don’t see it go round your neck.
“You glassed him. It could have hit a major artery, and it required a large number of stitches. It was a serious wound, but there was a degree of provocation.
“You went home. You didn’t care if he was bleeding on the floor. But you brought yourself forward, and I give you credit for that and for your guilty plea.”
