A pair of brothers who stormed into a pub to deliver a brutal beating to a man celebrating his 21st birthday have been jailed for the violent assault.
Paul and Shaun Taylor delivered a series of punches before their victim was ‘thrashed’ with a bar stool after they had forced him to the ground.
The brothers continued to attack their victim while he was incapable of defending himself as he was propped against the bar in The Thorntree before knocking him unconscious.
Teesside Crown Court was shown CCTV footage of the shocking violence as other drinkers were forced to flee to safety and they rained down blows on the defenceless man.
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Caroline McGurk said Paul Taylor threw the first punches before his elder brother joined in the brutal attack.
“Paul Taylor punched him to the ground,” she said. “Shaun Taylor hit him twice a chair and kicked him while he was on the ground – the kicked appeared to connect with his head and render him temporarily unconscious.
“The victim got back on his feet and Shaun Taylor continued to attack him by punching him.
“The attack was caught on the pub’s CCTV system.”
The victim suffered cuts and bruises to the face and arm where he had tried to protect himself when being hit with the chair.
In a personal impact statement, the man said he suffered nightmares about losing the sight in one of eyes after it was damaged in the unprovoked attack.
Paul Taylor, 35, of Morpeth Avenue, Marton, Middlesbrough, and his 38-year-old brother Shaun, of Fulbeck Road, Normanby, both pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm following the attack on August 1, 2021.
Tom Bennett, representing the younger brother, said his client’s only real mitigation was the fact that he pleaded guilty at the earliest possible opportunity.
He said Mr Taylor had turned to drink following his father’s death but accepted that was not an excuse for his behaviour.
And Tabitha Buck, representing Shaun Taylor, said her client had stayed out of trouble since the incident more than two years ago and he sought help to address his alcohol and substance misuse.
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Judge Jonathan Carroll locked the pair up for 14-months apiece for the truly ‘vicious beating’.
“This was committed inside a public house,” he said. “The victim was minding his own business at the bar when you come and attacked him.
“You gave him no notice whatsoever, you stormed in and set about delivering a truly vicious beating.
“You took him to the floor, one of you picked up a bar chair and thrashed him repeatedly with it.”
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