[A] MAN who pushed a woman down a steep pub staircase has been jailed for a year.
Jessica Walton “missed every step” and suffered a broken collarbone as she hit the ground after being forcibly shoved inside Penrith’s Dog Beck while her back was turned.
The man responsible, 28-year-old Nicolas Banks, then fled the scene without checking on Miss Walton’s welfare.
Banks appeared at Carlisle Crown Court for sentence yesterday (FRI) having admitted a charge of assault, occasioning actual bodily harm.
The January incident – captured on pub CCTV and witnessed by Miss Walton’s mother – was said to have had a “devastating” impact on the victim.
A remorseful Banks was said to have twice walked away from confrontations which preceded what his own lawyer conceded was a “moment of madness”. When police had suggested he could have killed Miss Walton, Banks, of Shap, replied: “I know.”
He was handed an immediate prison term by Judge Tony Lancaster, who concluded he had committed a “cowardly” crime.
