A KENDAL bar manager who punched a man twice during an unprovoked Kendal street attack has been jailed for 14 months.
Carlisle Crown Crown Court heard Carl Alan James Hesmondhalgh, 22, lashed out in the early hours of October 28 having earlier refused Liam McGoldrick entry to Smokies, in the town centre, following a previous alleged incident.
CCTV footage captured Hesmondhalgh punching Mr McGoldrick twice as they stood in the street with others at Highgate. Hesmondhalgh calmly walked away, leaving his victim grounded and injured having pivoted awkwardly on one leg as he was assaulted.
He sustained fractures to his leg and ankle, extensive ligament damage and later underwent surgery. A residential support worker, he suffered lost earnings and detailed the huge impact of the attack on his life in a statement. “Mentally I am not the same person I was,” he stated. “I feel stripped of my dignity and independence. The man who assaulted me has turned my life upside down.”
Hesmondhalgh, of Halgarth Circle, Kendal, admitted grievous bodily harm. A man of previous good character and now a Lakes hotel head chef, he admitted to police he’d been “out of order”, expressed regret and was “ashamed” by what he conceded was a “huge mistake”.
But he was jailed by Recorder Paul Taylor, who told him: “Only an immediate custodial sentence is justified by the circumstances of this offence.”
