A MAN’s “track record” of drunken violence has caught up with him, following his latest drink-related offending in which he attacked a man in an act of “mistaken identity” outside a pub.

Samuel Amos was jailed for 38 months, with two years’ extended licence on release, as a judge considers he poses, “a significant risk of causing serious harm.”

Durham Crown Court heard it follows a dangerous driving incident trying to evade police while at the wheel of a van round Bishop Auckland, including residential streets, in mid-evening on March 23 last year.

It ended with him abandoning the van followed by a foot chase in which he was arrested after trying to hide in a young mother’s home.

Christopher Wood, prosecuting, said Amos refused to give either a sample of blood or breath, claiming he would not do so in the absence of his legal representative.

Amos, 25, of Constantine Road, North Bitchburn, near Crook, admitted dangerous driving plus failing to provide a breath specimen. The case was sent for sentence to Durham Crown Court by magistrates on October 18.

Three days later Amos was involved in a drunken exchange in the White Swan in Crook in which a woman poured a drink over him.

Mr Wood said Amos was thrown out for his part in the incident, but did not leave the area, and some time later the woman involved emerged from the pub for a smoke.

She was seen talking to a man outside the pub and Amos approached, launching an unprovoked attack.

He used “considerable force” landing a punch that knocked the other man over, before raining further blows as he went to the ground.

Mr Wood said the victim suffered a broken ankle and lower leg fracture in the fall, and a severely broken jaw, requiring surgery in which metal plates were fitted.

The court heard that the attack and injuries suffered have had a, “monumental impact” on the victim, who is self-employed and was unable to work for some time.

Amos admitted causing grievous bodily harm relating to that incident.

Michele Turner, mitigating, said Amos, who was running a roofing business, was “genuinely remorseful” and accepts he must address his binge drinking, having engaged on courses while on remand in prison.

The court heard he suffers hyperactivity disorder but had not taken his prescribed medication at the time.

She said the pub attack was a case of “mistaken identity.”

Imposing the extended sentence, Judge Jonathan Carroll said, on his own admission, Amos was, ‘eight out of ten’ drunk at the time of the attack, and has a, “bad track record” for violence.

Judge Carroll also put in place a ten-year restraining order preventing Amos contacting the attack victim.