A man who launched a vicious attack on a Carlisle householder and left him with serious injuries has been jailed for two years.
Alan Crilley, now 41, turned up unannounced at the man’s house in the city’s Raffles area — and behaving erratically — as he was drinking with friends on August 21 last year.
Crilley looked to be under the influence of narcotics, said the victim, and began shouting at everyone in the room before carrying out what prosecutor Brendan Burke told Carlisle Crown Court were three separate attacks.
The first involved six or seven punches to his body; a second assault swiftly followed; and the final stage of violence saw Crilley punch the man 10 times to both the body and face.
“He then stopped and made a phone call after which he announced to the victim that his — the defendant’s — partner was coming around to stab him,” said Mr Burke.
The man offered only one strike in defence, the court heard, and had no recollection of events after the attack, later waking in a bedroom at the same house with multiple injuries.
These comprised a fractured facial bone, displaced tooth, collapsed left lung, brushing to the right lung, a tear to the spleen, three fractured ribs and a possible tear to the liver; and resulted in a 48-hour hospital stay.
Crilley, previously of Hawthorn Grove, Carlisle, was initially charged with causing grievous bodily harm with intent.
But despite the victim making an initial statement, the police later learned from a probation officer of his indication that he had no intention of co-operating with criminal proceedings. In addition, there was no prospect of the only other evidence, provided by a female witness, being admitted into evidence.
And so Crilley admitted the less serious charge of affray when he appeared in court today. Mark Shepherd, defending, said the heavily convicted defendant’s time in custody on remand had been the most difficult, having been confined to a cell 23 hours a day with no rehabilitative work being possible.
Judge Nicholas Barker heard Crilley had 91 previous offences to his name which, said the prosecutor, “ranged across the criminal calendar”, and included dishonesty, 10 for assault, six for public order and three previous affrays.
He had been out in the community for only a short time after his sentencing licence expired for assaulting an emergency worker when this attack took place.
“What that means, Alan Crilley,” said Judge Barker as he passed sentence, “is that at the age of 41 you are a man prone to violence; that you have little or no control over violence that you use on others.”
