A VIOLENT thug who glassed a man in a case of mistaken identity has seen his prison sentence almost doubled following a legal challenge.

Dylan Russell ‘glassed’ a fellow nightclubber in an unprovoked attack in September 2015 after a fight broke out in a Hartlepool bar.

The Solicitor General referred Russell’s original sentence to the Court of Appeal as unduly lenient.

The 25-year-old had been convicted of unlawful wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm for ‘glassing’ Karl Maggs on the head at Bar Paris in Hartlepool.

Russell was sentenced to three and a half years imprisonment and an indefinite restraining order at Teesside Crown Court in December last year.

Solicitor General, Robert Buckland QC MP, argued that the original sentence was unduly lenient. The Court of Appeal has increased his sentence to six years.

Speaking after the hearing, the Solicitor General said: “This was a violent and unprovoked attack that left a lasting impact on the victim.

“The original sentence did not reflect the seriousness of the crime or the offender’s violent history. It deserved tougher punishment and I am glad that the Court has agreed.”

During his trial last year, the court heard

Russell, of Redcar Close, Hartlepool, denied wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm on September 1 last year. He admitted the less serious offence of unlawful wounding, and was convicted of the more serious offence by a jury.

The original hearing was told that a fight broke out in the early hours, and someone struck Russell. He wrongly blamed the victim and hit Mr Maggs with a glass, causing cuts to his head and ear.

The court heard Russell has previous convictions for violence, including another offence of wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm for which he was jailed for six years.

At the original sentencing, Judge Tony Briggs told Russell: “It is clear you have difficulty controlling your temper, but there is a lot of independent evidence to show you are capable of behaving yourself and had been doing your best to reform. By pleading to the lesser offence you accepted responsibility for causing the injury, and have since shown remorse.”