A pub-goer who punched an off-duty special constable after knocking back 16 pints of lager has been ordered to wear an alcohol ban tag for 120 days.
Paul Savage, 31, was inside the Puncheon Inn when trouble flared at around 10.20pm on Sunday, March 20.
The off-duty special constable had consumed several pints himself, although prosecutor Tim Evans told Carlisle Crown Court that number was dwarfed by the quantity Savage had consumed.
Drug references were made at a table although the voice in question was not believed to be Savage’s. “The officer, in both a public and police-spirited way, challenged the group, and said ‘That’s not the sort of thing that should be being said’,” said Mr Evans.
Savage immediately asked what it had to do with him, asking “Are you really a cop?”. The special produced his warrant card, and was then caught totally by surprise as Savage delivered two hard punches to his face. In between, when the victim pulled his hands away, he noticed blood on them having been injured below his eye.
Savage left the pub but was later arrested and admitted a common assault charge.
His barrister, Kim Whittlestone, told the court of his occasional alcohol binges to excess but then periods of abstinence, saying: “He acknowledges that when in drink he can lose his temper.”
Savage, a father, was a self-employed tiler and bathroom fitter. And Judge Nicholas Barker accepted there were many positive aspects to the defendant’s character but concluded he had an unhealthy attitude and relationship with alcohol.
“At your age you see nothing wrong with going out and consuming an absurd and excessive amount of alcohol — 16 pints in all,” said the judge. “You know that if you do that it is very likely to result in you getting yourself into trouble by being violent to other people.”
Savage, of Shakespeare Avenue, Egremont, was handed an 18-month community order comprising rehabilitation and 80 hours’ unpaid work.
For 120 days, he must also wear an alcohol abstinence monitoring tag which will detect any consumption. “You are dry for 120 days, that’s what this means,” said Judge Barker. “Thirty-one and a father: time to stop it, do you understand?”
