Man jailed after drunken brawl

7:20am Tuesday 2nd December 2008

A WARRINGTON man who was part of a ‘ferocious’ drunken brawl in which a man was repeatedly kicked in the head has been jailed.

Kevin Wright, aged 21, from Payne Close, Great Sankey, punched and kicked his victim as he lay on his kitchen floor, leaving the room spattered in blood.

His sister, Claire Owen, aged 29, from Bell House, in Widnes, and her boyfriend, Stuart James, a 31-year-old also from Widnes, were also jailed for the attack.

Their victim needed plastic surgery on one of his ears after the attack, and has been left withdrawn and depressed.

The trio went to his home, in Widnes, on July 8, where they and the victim’s girlfriend drank a bottle of vodka.

How the violence began is unclear. The victim told police he was stood in the kitchen when Owen punched him.

But his girlfriend said the fight began earlier, in the living room, with a fight between Owen and James.

James and Wright punched him and he fell to the floor. They kicked him in the head as Owen punched him three times in the face.

James then drew back and ran towards the victim before kicking his head again. When the victim’s girlfriend tried to intervene she was hit by James, knocking out two of her teeth.

Owen tried to stop James attacking the man, and he turned his attention to her, grabbing her hair and banging her head on the floor until she fell unconscious.

All three defendants pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm. Judge David Hale said they were lucky not to be facing a murder or manslaughter charge.

He told James: “Anyone who can lose control to that extent when drunk must, in my view, indicate a significant risk of serious harm to the public.”

James was handed a sentence of imprisonment for public protection and must serve three years, minus 140 days already served, before he can apply for parole.

Owen was jailed for three years and two months and Wright for four years at the hearing at Warrington Crown Court on Thursday.

l Wright was also sentenced for matters of criminal damage, when he smashed windows at a flat, and affray, when he was part of a gang that set upon a man protecting his grandmother’s house.