A man has been jailed for attacking a teenager in a bar after he ruffled his girlfriend’s hair – despite her doing it to him first.
Laura Hirst walked into Bobbin bar in Cleesthorpes, Lincolnshire, ruffling the 19-year-old victim’s hair as she walked past.
Surprised, he played along, doing the same to her, before heading upstairs to the toilet.
When he got there Hirst and her boyfriend Stacey Welsh, 41, were waiting for him.
Hirst shouted ‘that’s him’ before Welsh backed him into a corner, grabbing him by the back of the head and threatening to kill him.
Laura Hirst (pictured left) walked into Bobbin bar in Cleesthorpes, Lincolnshire, ruffling the 19-year-old victim’s hair as she walked past. Surprised, he played along, doing the same to her, before heading upstairs to the toilet. When he got there Hirst and her boyfriend Stacey Welsh (pictured right), 41, were waiting for him
He then pushed the man down the stairs and glassed him, Grimsby Crown Court heard.
Welsh denied assault causing actual bodily harm on November 29, 2015 but was handed six months behind bars and ordered to pay £1,750 compensation and an £80 court charge.
The victim told the court: ‘The woman ruffled my hair up. I just thought it was a laugh really so I did it back to her.
‘I ruffled her hair up on top. She grabbed me by the hair and pulled me really hard to the right. She pulled my hair and then walked off.
He continued by describing what happened upstairs in the toilet: ‘The woman all of a sudden said: “That’s him’ and started walking towards me.”
‘The man edged me into a corner and grabbed me round the back of the head.
Welsh denied assault causing actual bodily harm at Bobbin bar (pictured) on November 29, 2015 but was handed six months behind bars and ordered to pay £1,750 compensation and an £80 court charge
‘The woman was shouting at me. The man said he was going to kill me and pushed me down the stairs and then he glassed me.
‘He didn’t give me any warning at all. It was really quick. It smashed over my face, cutting my nose and my lip.
‘There was blood all over my hands. I was covered in alcohol as well. A member of staff helped clean my wounds.
‘He said: “I’m sorry”. She said: “It was all your fault anyway”.
Welsh (pictured) had no previous convictions before the assault took place
The victim had to go to hospital for stitches to his upper lip.
Defending, barrister David Taylor claimed that the victim was ‘acting the goat’ before the glassing and was ‘dancing about’ but he denied this.
He replied: ‘That’s incredibly not the case’.
Mr Taylor claimed that the man punched Welsh ‘quite viciously’ on the back of the head but the victim retorted: ‘No, not true.’
Mr Taylor said that Welsh was ‘trying to protect’ his girlfriend, Laura Hirst, and himself and ‘misjudged throwing alcohol’ but the victim also rejected this claim.
Judge Graham Robinson told the court that Welsh had ‘lied on oath’.
He added: ‘I detected not a scintilla of remorse throughout all of this trial.
‘He has perjured himself in the witness box. It was an utterly hopeless defence.
‘He was trying to brazen it out and failed. There is no remorse. That’s the problem.
‘I reject absolutely any genuine remorse on your part. You launched an unprovoked attack on a young man who was bounding up the stairs, clearly not drunk, to use the toilet.
‘You and your accomplice set upon him. You deliberately thrust a glass in to his face.’
Welsh, of Rookery Farm, Marshchapel, had no previous convictions.