A FATHER and son were behind bars last night (October 18) for a savage and unprovoked attack on a pub doorman with a pool cue.

Paul and Aaron Leather repeatedly beat Simon Joyce at the Tap & Spile in Guisborough, east Cleveland, in June.

Teesside Crown Court was told that Paul Leather, 45, clubbed the bouncer while his 22-year-old son held him down.

The pair were told by Judge Howard Crowson that they could easily have left Mr Joyce with more serious injuries.

The doorman suffered four cuts to his scalp and a black eye and defensive injuries to hands and wrists, the court heard.

Mr Joyce was initially punched at closing time by Aaron Leather and fell through the doors to the pub's pool room.

He was pursued into the room and struck with a cue by the father-to-be as he tried to fend off the remorseless attack.

The attacker put down the cue, but his father picked up a broken bit of it and continued the assault, the court heard.

Security camera pictures showed Mr Joyce being dragged around the room and into a corner where he was stamped on.

When the landlord appeared on the scene, he was punched and threatened to open a gate so the pair could escape.

Paul Leather, of Woodhouse Road, was jailed for five years and nine months, and his son received five-and-a-half years.

Aaron Leather, an engineer, of Falcon Way, also in Guisborough, will miss the birth of his first child, the court heard.

His barrister, Rod Hunt, said: “That is a stigma he will bear for the rest of his life. It is something he feels greatly.

“That will be a lifetime's punishment for him. He is very well aware it is his own lack of self-control that brings this.”

Peter Makepeace said Paul Leather was the main carer for an elderly relative and his family would be hit by him being jailed.

“The violence was not instigated by Paul Leather,” he said. “There was an element of instinctiveness about his actions.”

The pair were convicted of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm after a trial last month.

Judge Crowson told them: “I have read letters from each of you which strike me as truthful, at least with expressions of remorse.”