Wedding fight guest's jaw broken

Keith Dudley was also ordered to pay £400 costs

A wedding fight which ended in a broken jaw has resulted in one guest being given a suspended prison sentence.

Gas engineer Keith Dudley, 40, of Connah's Quay, had admitted inflicting grievous bodily harm on John Williams.

The court heard his guilty plea was on the basis there was a fight after Mr Williams asked him outside, but Dudley lost his temper and kicked his head.

It happened outside the Corus-owned Shotton Steel Works Social Club in April 2006, Mold Crown Court heard.

The court heard how the defendant and his girlfriend were at a wedding reception, sitting on the same table as Mr Williams, his wife and daughter.

They were buying rounds of drinks and it came to the defendant's turn.

He returned with two trays of drinks and, as he handed them out, Mrs Williams put her hand out to take her drink and said: "That's mine, thanks".

You attacked another man, causing serious injury, and therefore a prison sentence is inevitable to mark the gravity of what you did Judge John Rogers QC

The defendant asked her how many drinks she wanted, and was obviously not joking, the court heard.

Mrs Williams became upset and went to the toilets. Oliver King, prosecuting, said her husband could see she was upset and she explained what had happened.

Mr Williams asked the defendant to step outside, said Mr King, which they did and began fighting.

After losing his balance, Mr Williams fell and then, while he was effectively defenceless, he was kicked once to the head.

Mr King said Dudley had a cut on his forehead and knuckles, while Mr Williams had a fractured jaw and other injuries.

David Owen, defending, said the complexion of the case had changed after Mr Williams' alleged previous violent behaviour came to light.

The prosecution accepted Mr Williams was as much to blame for the initial incident starting as Dudley.

'Blameless life'

Judge John Rogers QC told Dudley: "It is not possible to be sure that the fracture was caused when you were fighting each other, or while he was on the ground when you kicked him.

"Nevertheless, I have to deal with you for a serious offence of violence. You attacked another man, causing serious injury, and therefore a prison sentence is inevitable to mark the gravity of what you did."

The judge said he had decided to take an exceptional course and suspended it.

He said: "You are a man with an excellent work record, you are a responsible parent and you are highly regarded in your community".

Dudley was sentenced for his loss of temper at the end of the fight.

It was out of character as he had led a blameless life and was held in extremely high regard in testimonials.

Dudley had retrained after being made redundant at the steelworks and an immediate custodial sentence would have extreme consequences, said Mr Owen.

The defendant's eight-month sentence was suspended for two years, and he was placed on supervision.