Man jailed for pepper spray attack

The defendant was jailed for two months by magistrates

Flintshire magistrates have heard how a north Wales pub landlord was blasted in the face with a pepper spray when he tried to eject a drunken customer.

The spray also had a serious effect on an elderly customer who was sitting nearby and had to be rushed to hospital by ambulance.

This was totally unprovoked

Magistrates chairman, Dave Cox

On Monday, defendant Rudy George Thomas admitted two charges of assault and possessing the pepper spray canister as an offensive weapon.

The 21-year-old from Ardwick in Manchester was jailed for two months and banned from entering The Bells of St Mary's public house at Gronant near Prestatyn for the next two years.

Magistrates' chairman, Mr Dave Cox, said that the courts would protect the public, adding: "This was totally unprovoked."

The incident happened in April of last year when Thomas entered the pub and there was an altercation with the landlord, Michael Williamson.

The defendant was drunk and was asked to leave, while he was being ejected, the defendant got out a pepper spray and sprayed it into Mr Williamson's face.

Pepper spray

Thomas was arrested and handcuffed but became extremely abusive with officers and had to be forceably removed from the police vehicle at Mold police station.

Defending solicitor Nic Parry said that it was a case that would present the magistrates with a dilemma.

On the one hand, they had a serious offence of an attack on a public servant with a weapon on licensed premises.

But on the other hand, unusually for someone involved in such a serious incident, the defendant had no previous convictions at all.

Magistrates heard he had previously been the victim of an assault and had carried the pepper spray for his own defence.