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A drunken man who smashed a Wirral pub's ornate window with a brick and bit two people on the premises has been jailed for two years.
As reported by the Liverpool Echo, Joshua Nolan, 22, was drinking alone at The Stork Hotel in Birkenhead on 20 July this year when he became increasingly rowdy and aggressive. CCTV showed him getting agitated as he continued to drink.
When he boiled over, he went outside, picked up a brick and threw it through an ornate window in the pub. Customer Christopher Matthews tried to calm him down, but Nolan grabbed his head and bit him on the nose, which he required Hepatitis B injections for.
Others at the pub intervened as Nolan fell to the floor. Ian Moore, another pub customer, tried to hold him down, but Nolan bit his ring finger and would not let go.
Merseyside Police arrived on scene and had to use PAVA incapacitant spray to detain Nolan. But he then spat saliva, blood and the remains of the spray into the face of PC Sanderson.
Liverpool Crown Court heard on Wednesday that landlady Joanne Ireland said Nolan's actions had caused serious damage to her business.
The ornate window cost over £1,100 to repair, and the incident had left customers not wanting to come back, as it gave it a bad name. She told the court she had lost regulars as a result.
Prosecutor Iain Criddle described the biting as "a nasty and unpleasant way of inflicting an injury on someone".
Nolan, of Green Lane in South Shields, had 17 previous convictions for 29 offences including criminal damage, assault against police officers and affray. He was subject to a suspended sentence at the time of the pub assaults.
His lawyer, Sam Faulks, told the court that Nolan was "pretty appalled" by his behaviour and wanted to apologise. He said Nolan had completed work at a shipyard shortly before the incident and could not remember much of the night.
"His behaviour in Birkenhead was that of a thug," Mr Faulks said. "Nonetheless, there is a wholly different side to his character."
He added that Nolan did not oppose a five-year restraining order banning him from the pub, saying his client was keen to return to the north east of England. Additionally, he completed 19 rehabilitation days, instead of his required 15, according to his lawyer.
Judge Brian Cummings KC told Nolan: "I accept there is a better side to you. You like to work, that is an attractive factor. I accept you are not a lost cause. What you have done previously will not make people write you off. Far from it."
Nolan was sentenced to 16 months for the pub offences plus a further eight months activated from his previous suspended sentence.
