A TRACE of DNA on a discarded beer glass led to a man being jailed for unprovoked attacks on two women.

One of the women attacked by Dale Robinson was knocked unconscious and lost her front teeth during the incident in Newton Aycliffe on March 23 last year.

Robinson eventually pleaded guilty to two counts of assault, but claimed it was self-defence and that he had been kicked by one of the women as he walked past them in Silverdale Place.

But during a hearing at Durham Crown Court, Judge Jonathon Carroll rejected his version of events and instead found it had been “an unprovoked and sustained attack”.

The 44-year-old, of Middridges Farm, Newton Aycliffe, was jailed for a total of two years and eight months for two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

He was also made subject of a ten year restraining order telling him not to contact either woman.

After the initial attack, one victim was unable to recall the events after being knocked unconscious and one victim told police they did not recognise their attacker, but were able to give a description of the clothes he was wearing.

After publicity surrounding the case, several members of the community named Robinson as a potential suspect and CCTV footage from the town identified a suspect fitting his description heading in the direction of Robinson’s home.

A neighbourhood police officer remembered dealing with an unrelated incident that same night in a local pub and recalled seeing Robinson entering the premises. It was later discovered he had later been asked to leave after an altercation.

Officers checked the pub’s CCTV footage and found images of Robinson, wearing clothes which matched the description provided by the victims and on CCTV near the scene. They also showed him leaving the pub with a plastic pint glass.

The victims recalled that their attacker had discarded a pint glass just before the assault and, when it was recovered at the scene, Robinson’s DNA was found on it.

Detective Constable Andy Denham said: “When the victims in this case first came forward, the identity of the offender was unknown, but we were determined to achieve justice for the two women involved and find who was responsible for this unprovoked attack.

“By combining traditional community policing with forensic DNA technology we were able to place Dale Robinson at the scene of this nasty assault, despite his claims that he was elsewhere.

“He subsequently changed his story to claim to have been provoked, but thankfully the court was able to see through that story and we are pleased justice has been served.”