Man with 112 previous convictions is jailed for town assault

Man with 112 previous convictions is jailed for town assault

Russell John Barton (47) appeared in the Royal Court yesterday after pleading guilty to two counts of grave and criminal assault and one of common assault.

By committing the offences, the Warwickshire-born defendant also breached existing probation and community service orders.

Delivering the court’s sentence, the Bailiff, Sir William Bailhache, told the defendant he risked spending a large period of his life behind bars if he did not clean up his act.

‘This very much looks like your last chance, otherwise the full weight of the court and law will be thrown down if necessary,’ Sir William warned. ‘You have an absolutely appalling record and an obvious drinking problem. The court thinks that
you are an alcoholic and you need help to deal with that.

‘If you do continue with this, you will be in and out of prison for the rest of your days and you will probably have a much shorter life as well because of the impact that binge-drinking can have on your health.

‘If you look at the consequences of your offending on your victims, it has quite an impact on them as they begin to lose their confidence to go about their day-to-day duties. The court has said many times that violent conduct in St Helier – in the streets, bars and clubs – will result in custodial sentences.’

Outlining the case, Crown Advocate Emma Hollywood, prosecuting, said that at 11.25pm on 19 April, the landlord at the Post Horn Pub was informed by one of his staff that Barton was acting strangely outside.

After the landlord and a colleague spoke to
the defendant and gave him a glass of water,
Barton threw the glass back at the two men. The glass broke on a steel part of a balustrade before it hit one of the staff in the leg, it was said.

Advocate Hollywood told the court that Barton then left the scene and headed to Charing Cross where he approached members of the public in their cars before punching a taxi driver.

After he was arrested, he told officers that he had been drinking quite heavily but could remember a group of men pointing out another man who they said had tried to rape a girl. Barton claimed he had chased the man before losing sight of him.

Advocate Heidi Heath, defending, told the court that the injuries sustained by the pub worker and taxi driver were minor. She asked the court to impose a term of community service, rather than a jail sentence.

And she said that Barton’s offending had been due to ‘vigilantism’ and frustration, after unsuccessfully trying to track down someone he thought had tried to commit a
serious sexual assault.

‘He knows that he cannot drink at all because he is now aware that he is not able to stop himself and this is when issues arise but he is totally abstinent now,’ she said.

‘It was in frustration that he threw the glass and that is utterly unacceptable and he knows that he cannot do that again.’

She also asked that any exclusion order from licensed premises be lengthened to help her client stay out of trouble.

As well as his jail term, Barton was ordered to serve 115 hours’ community service and handed a 12-month probation order valid from his date of release, and a 24-month order banning him from licensed premises

Following the sentence, the defendant said: ‘Thank you sir. I was not expecting that.’

Jurats Collette Crill and Robert Christensen were sitting.

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