Staff cowered behind the bar in fear as a cocaine-fuelled customer launched pool balls across a crowded pub and shouted "I'll slice yous all up".
Stephen Townsend asked "do you know who I am?" when he was challenged over his thuggish behaviour before kicking a police officer in the face. He appeared to be in tears as he was locked up on the eve of his 31st birthday over the incident.
Liverpool Crown Court heard on Thursday that workers at the Blundell Arms in Widnes were informed the defendant had punched another drinker shortly after 11.15pm on February 12 last year. Olivia Beesley, prosecuting, described how Townsend was confronted and asked to apologise, but responded by saying: "I'll do it in my own f***ing time.
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"Do you know who I am? I’ll slice yous all up if any of yous try and remove me."
Townsend, who was appearing in court the day before his birthday, then became "more irate" and tried to hit a second man before picking up balls from a pool table and throwing them around the pub "with force". "Frightened" staff were forced to duck under the bar in order to avoid being hit by the missiles and called the police.
Officers were forced to wrestle him to the floor upon attending the scene as he "kicked out and threw his arms around". One PC was kicked in the side of the face during the ensuing struggle, leaving him feeling "sick and dizzy" and his head "throbbing".
CCTV footage of the incident was played to the court and showed Townsend hurling four to five balls and grabbing hold of more. A further clip from the body worn cameras of police showed them approaching him at the busy bar, with a singer continuing to perform an acoustic cover of the Killers' Mr Brightside throughout despite the developing disturbance.
The dad was also heard to shout "you little maggot" as he was arrested. Townsend, of Clapgate Crescent, has a total of 26 previous convictions for 36 offences.
Stuart Mills, defending, told the court: "At the core of this offending is alcohol and cocaine. That is, it seems, at the core of his previous offending."
Mr Mills said there had been a "change in Mr Townsend's personal circumstances, most significantly the birth of his twin sons", adding: "That is his motivation to change his lifestyle. He plays an active role in looking after the children.
"This is the seesaw moment where his whole life can be changed. It may well mean that Stephen Townsend can turn his life around."
Townsend admitted affray and assaulting an emergency services worker. He sat with his arms folded in the dock as he was jailed for 14 months, having been seen dabbing his eyes with a tissue earlier in the hearing.
Sentencing, Judge Anil Murray said: "This was an assault on a police officer just trying to do his job. It was a serious, sustained incident.
"Your partner must have been heavily pregnant when you went out and behaved like you did. Whatever sentences are passed on you, you just keep offending.
"I hope you come out and change your life. If you don't, you will serve longer and longer sentences."
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