Pub 'animals' are locked away

Apr 4 2007 By Ross McCarthy, Birmingham Mail

TWO men who carried out a vicious assault on a Birmingham pub landlord after he tried to stop them stealing his property have been sent to custody.

Thomas McPake, who was punched and kicked as he lay on the ground, suffered a number of injuries, including a broken ankle as a result of the attack.

Curtis Douglas, 20, of no fixed address, and Ashley Atkins, 21, of Hastings Road, Erdington, who both admitted charges of burglary and wounding, were sentenced to 33 months' detention in a young offenders' institution.

Mr Recorder David Taylor, sitting at Birmingham Crown Court, said it was a mercy that Mr McPake had not received more serious injuries.

He added: "What happened shows two young men with no regard whatsoever for that man."

Stuart Clarkson, prosecuting, said Mr McPake, who was the landlord of The Leopard, in Jerrys Lane, Erdington, had noticed the defendants hanging around near a private area of the pub at 11pm and had told them to move on.

However, half an hour later, he discovered that crates of drink were missing from the cellar, while another employee found an upstairs flat had been broken into and that property, including a computer, had been taken.

When McPake went into the car park, he saw Douglas and Atkins with bottles of alcohol close to them.

Mr Clarkson said, when the landlord challenged the men, Douglas punched him to the ground and Atkins then joined in the attack, with Mr McPake trying to protect himself.

Others who came out of the pub and tried to stop the attack described the defendants as "acting like animals", wanting to fight everyone.

Mr Clarkson said the victim had to have an operation on his ankle and that, as well as alcohol and the computer, £440, a wedding ring and a box of cigars had been taken from the pub.