Drunken Sunderland bricklayer jailed after glass attack on London West End bouncer

Joseph Judsun, 27, of Blanchland Drive, Fulwell, had been challenged for climbing over a half-door and ascending a private staircase, where he picked up a fire extinguisher.

He was convicted by a jury at Southwark Crown Court of wounding Muhammed Haroon, with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, at The Montague Pyke pub in Charing Cross Road at 11.15pm on November 10, 2018. Mr Haroon has since gone onto become a police officer.

Passing sentence on Judson, Recorder Alex Lock told him: “This was unprovoked and unjustified and it was shocking to watch on CCTV in court.

“It was compounded by watching the police body-worn footage, which recorded your aggressive and foul-mouthed behaviour which does you no credit whatsoever.”

Prosecutor Richard Milne told the court: “The victim, Mr Haroon, was a member of security staff working a the pub.

“He was aware the defendant had gone over a half door of some sort restricting access into a private area and ascended the stairs.

“He followed the defendant, who was in possession of a fire extinguisher and had a glass in his left hand, and told the defendant he would be escorted downstairs and ejected from the public house.

“As they reached the bottom of the stairs the defendant swung a blow at Mr Haroon with his left hand, while still holding the glass, and struck him to the right side of his face.

“There was no cause or provocation for this attack by the defendant and he was seen delivering another blow towards Mr Haroon.

“Other security staff assisted and took the defendant to the ground and he continued to resist and the police were called and he was very abusive and aggressive verbally.”

When police thought Judson was going to kick them, he shouted: “If I was going to do it, you’d have known about it. It would have been too quick.”

The prosecutor added: “He was swearing at and threatening the officers, kicked the doors of the police van and threatened to ‘blow up’ the police.

“Mr Haroon was bleeding heavily as a result of being struck and was taken to hospital for four wounds to the right side of his face, including one near the edge of one of his eyes and this needed a number of sutures.”

Father-of-two Mr Haroon upset his parents when visiting them in his native Pakistan after the attack.

And in a victim impact statement to the court he said: “It makes me very upset, it is very distressing when people see my face.”

“I relive the trauma and when I look in the mirror it upsets me. I cannot work in the security industry and suffer panic attacks and depression and it upsets me when I pass the venue.”

Six months after the attack a fragment of glass was still embedded in his face, causing “oozing” and he has had to undergo two operations in respect of it.

“He was told he was lucky not to have lost an eye,” Mr Milne told the court. “There is permanent tissue damage and this has resulted in permanent irreversible injury.”

Apart from warnings for having a craft knife while a schoolboy and shoplifting as a youth, the court was told that Judson has not been in trouble with the police.

“The defendant has always accepted he was wrong and we did not run the trial to denigrate Mr Haroon,” said Gavin Doig, defending. “It was not run to cause additional upset to the victim or criticise his conduct.”

Before the trial Judson had admitted he glassed Mr Haroon, but denied he intended to cause grievous bodily harm.

Mr Doig told the court: “Fortunately his injures are far less apparent now than those in the photographs. It is far less disfiguring than it might have been.

“The defendant was in such a state of intoxication he may have behaved this way to whoever asked him to leave and laid hands on him. This offence would never have occurred but for the intoxication.

“He expressed his remorse early at the police interview, saying how appalled he was at what he had done.”

Five character references were handed into the court, which described Judson as being a “hard-working” man with stable family relationships, while several relatives and friends were present in the court’s public gallery.

“As a direct result of what happened that day Mr Judson has not consumed alcoholic spirits at all,” said Mr Doig.

“He feels shame and remorse and that he has let his family down and caused them to suffer unnecessarily.

“He will be incarcerated for the first time in his life over three hundred miles from home and away from his support network.”

Recorder Lock told Judson: “I was pleased to hear Mr Haroon has started to recover from his injuries and this terrible event and has started a new career.

“You were found guilty of a very serious offence for which the maximum sentence is life imprisonment. Only a custodial sentence can be justified.

“You were not provoked and you were not defending yourself. You did use a weapon in the form of a pint glass to assault Mr Haroon.”