A FATHER and son whose revenge attack on a man who gave evidence in a court case ended in a bloodbath in a pub toilets have been jailed for ten years.

Luke Cashman, 22, followed victim Andrew Bare into the gents and clubbed him from behind with a knuckleduster, Teesside Crown Court heard yesterday.

Jason Cashman, 42, stood guard at the door of the toilets in The Keys, in Yarm, while his son attacked Mr Bare last April – three years after he testified against him.

When an innocent member of the public came into the toilets and tried to help the victim, Jason Cashman struck him with a glass he had taken in with him.

The glass broke and Gerard Marshall, who was also punched by the son, was repeatedly hit with it and suffered cuts to his head, face and left ear.

The Cashmans were convicted after a trial of two charges of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, and the son of possessing an offensive weapon.

Luke Cashman admitted breaching an Asbo by being in the pub. Under the order – and a PubWatch scheme – he was barred from licensed premises.

Judge John Walford told the pair it was “a ghastly coincidence” that they were in the pub at the same time as Mr Bare, but said they could have ignored him.

He told Luke Cashman – who has a conviction for affray and a number of warnings and cautions for violence – that he had trouble controlling his anger.

“You nursed a grievance for three years against this man and actually acted it out on that night,” he said.

Jason Cashman’s criminal record – also littered with offences of violence – showed “aggressive behaviour is an entrenched pattern”, said the judge.

“It is a matter of concern you willingly went along with your son’s plan to wreak revenge when you should, as a responsible father, have dissuaded him from acting unlawfully and violently.”

Deborah Sherwin, for Jason Cashman, of Spennithorne Road, Stockton, said most of his offending was when he was in his teens and 20s.

“It is a long time since he received a custodial sentence, and he has never received a sentence remotely like the one he is likely to for these offences,” she said.

Peter Makepeace, for Luke Cashman, of Station Road, Norton, near Stockton, said his first taste of custody was on remand at Durham Prison, and added: “One cannot imagine a more unsympathetic and hard edged start.”