Pump attendant hit ex's new partner with iron bar

Jailed for 16 months

Report by BBC Isle of Man:

A petrol station attendant hit his ex-partner's new boyfriend with an iron bar when the man went to fill up at the garage where he worked.

Stephen Hodgson launched the attack after the man had approached the owner of the garage to tell him that one of the pumps was not working.

Hodgson's ex-partner noticed the 68-year-old ‘pick up something hard’ and said they should leave but Hodgson attacked his victim and left him with cuts and bruises.

He pleaded guilty to assault occasioning bodily harm for the 14 September incident and was jailed for 16 months by Deemster Graeme Cook at Douglas Courthouse.

The court heard Hodgson had said "I'll show you" before attacking the man and that he had growled as they had struggled on the ground.

A passer-by intervened and restrained Hodgson until the police arrived.

He answered ‘no comment’ to a police interview but later pleaded guilty to the assault and the possession of an offensive weapon in a public place.

The attack, which the court heard was ‘unprovoked’, left the victim with bruising to his left forearm, swelling on the back of his head and a cut to his nose.

In a victim impact statement, read to the court, he said he had been ‘nervous’ since the attack that Hodgson would go to his address, had lost some of his memory from the week of the attack, and had suffered from ‘shooting pains’ to his head.

Deemster Cook told Hodgson: "You came out of the kiosk and battered him straight away," adding that the victim ‘was defenceless’.

"Hitting anyone with an iron bar is dangerous particularly to the head ... you could have killed him with one blow," he added.