A DRUNKEN thug who knocked a woman unconscious after he became embroiled in a brawl outside a town centre pub has been jailed.
Thomas Mason threw the devasting punch while his girlfriend was fighting on the ground with the woman after their ill-feeling spilled out The Hoskins pub in Darlington.
The 34-year-old’s brutal punch left his victim with bleeds on the brain and a broken jaw, Teesside Crown Court heard.
Their August Bank Holiday drinking session ended in a melee when the large group of friends and relatives turned on each other and Mason told police ‘he wiped them out’ to get them off his girlfriend.
Jonathan Walker, prosecuting, said Kirsty Forde was assaulted inside the pub Mason’s victim before they were both thrown out by door staff.
He said: “The defendant can be heard to encourage his girlfriend to further attack the girls saying, ‘get at them my lass’, and he pushes her in their direction.”
The CCTV footage showed Mason push Forde towards the woman before a mass fight erupted in the street.
The shocking images showed Mason walk towards the brawling women before landing a heavy sucker-punch which left the victim unconscious for 15 minutes.
Mason threw a number of punches at different people before pushing an off-duty Police Community Support Officer in the chest as she tried to calm the situation down.
The footage showed the defendant run off when police appear on the scene and arrested shortly after.
Mr Walker said Mason had a number of previous convictions including being sentenced to 86 months in March 2014. He had pleaded guilty to a charge of rape.
Following the violence, Mason, of Drover House Lane, Satley, near Tow Law, pleaded guilty to inflicting grievous bodily harm, assault and affray following the violence.
Ian West, in mitigation, urged the judge to suspend any sentence as his client’s offence took place some time ago and ‘a lot of water has passed under the bridge’ since then.
He said: “That video that you have seen is unpleasant to watch, it is a disgraceful episode to watch in the public place and undoubtedly the custodial threshold is passed.”
His partner, Forde was given a conditional discharge for her role in the violence after she admitted a charge of common assault.
The 29-year-old, of Derwent Road, Skelton, east Cleveland, was initially attacked inside a pub before being physically pushed into a confrontation by Mason when they were outside.
Judge Howard Crowson sentenced Mason to a total of 27 months in prison.
“You seemed to have been quite determined to be violent yourself, you floored a man with a strong punch and then we see you prowling around, holding your fists and threatening violence,” he said.
“The two women were on the ground surrounded by others who seemed to be separating them, you barrelled into the group like you were clearly rugby players from the ground, knocking people this way and that.
“She was able to stand up but only for a very short time before you delivered the very substantial punch which caused those injuries.”
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