Man lashed out with bottle in Wearside pub altercation

A man who used a bottle as a weapon during an early hours’ pub altercation has avoided being jailed – for the sake of his son.

CCTV played to a court showed Leslie Todd, 44, of Whitehill Road, Hettlon, lashing out at a male drinker at the town’s Colliery Inn.

Footage does not confirm if Todd connected with his beer bottle at around 1am on Sunday, March 12.

It also shows him getting involved in brief violence with a woman - thought to be the man’s partner - who his solicitor said had first thrown an object at him.

Todd pleaded guilty to a charge of affray and magistrates said his offence deserved jail time due to his high intoxication and use of “a bottle as a weapon”.

But they backtracked from imposing immediate custody, instead jailing him for 26 weeks but suspending the sentence for 18 months,

They said putting him behind bars would impact on his child, who they heard has debilitating health problems and is in part cared for by Todd.

Prosecutor Claire Armstrong said: “There’s around eight minutes of CCTV footage which shows the offence.

“What you see is the altercation that’s happened in the bar and the defendant getting involved in that.”

Todd has nine historic previous convictions, including affray from 2001 and a public order offence the following year.

Sandra Fife, defending, said the footage showed the other man causing problems for customers prior to Todd getting involved.

Mrs Fife told magistrates in South Tyneside the same man’s partner had “thrown something at the defendant – a glass, a bottle”.

She added: “I’m not trying to exonerate or excuse him, I’m just trying for you to see this in the round.

“There were so many people in there who were very heavily intoxicated, including my client. He was out drinking during the day.

“He saw this large gentleman going towards a female, he knows who she is. He has had issues with this gentleman.

“He sees his conduct towards this female, and he gets involved. That was his big mistake. This has been a wake-up call for Mr Todd.”

Magistrates also ordered Todd to complete 20 rehabilitation days, complete 300 hours of unpaid work and pay a £154 victim surcharge and £85 court costs.