A MAN who landed five blows on another drinker in an “explosive” attack in a village pub has been spared jail

Mark Cliff, 46, had been warned he faced imprisonment jail after admitting causing grievous bodily harm, at an earlier hearing at Durham Crown Court.

But, Judge Simon Eckersley yesterday took note of Cliff’s work ethic and said the community would gain more if he addressed his anger issues under supervision.

Sentencing Cliff to 16 months in jail, suspended for two years, the judge said: “This was a gratuitous attack on the complainant as he sat on a stool in the pub.

“You approached him in temper, as you accept. You grabbed him around the throat, at some stage, and punched him in the face. He suffered a nasty injury – a fractured left cheek. It was a senseless attack on a man who had done nothing wrong.”

He added. “There is another side to you. You are a married, have a family and are in work.

“You are described as having a good work ethic and you have improved your position so that you are now in a supervisory position, which is impressive.

“You have an issue, as you readily acknowledge with your temper, and this (attack) should not have occurred, whatever the stresses or strains in your life.”

Judge Eckersley said, rather than Cliff spending time in custody, he took the view the community would be best served if Cliff dealt with his anger management issues.

Jonathan Harely, prosecuting, said the attack happened at the The Eden Arms, in West Auckland, at about 6pm on July 15, last year.

Hours before the assault, the victim had told Cliff, when he saw him in the pub, “no noise in my street tonight”.

Cliff left and later returned, telling the victim, “don’t you show me up ever again” before raining down a “flurry of blows”.

Laurie Scott, for Cliff, said the two men were known to each other and there was “no love lost between them” between them following previous disagreement.

She said Cliff, a hard working family man, “saw red” during what was a difficult time, due to a family illness.

She added, Cliff acknowledged he had anger issues and would welcome input from the Probation Service to address this. Cliff, of Bylands Close, St Helen Auckland, was ordered to do 30 rehabilitation activity days and 200 hours of unpaid work.