A pair of security guards battered a landlord, his bar staff and customers during a rampage through a Merseyside pub.
George Harper and Joshua Kehoe terrorised the Manor Farm pub in Rainhill as it hosted an 18th birthday party to which they weren’t even invited. They knocked a customer out before kicking his unconscious body, punched a man on crutches at the bar and thumped the licence holder so hard with a wine bottle his nose was left disfigured.
The landlord was so traumatised by the incident he handed in his licence and left the pub entirely.
READ MORE: Man banned from calling 999 after year of drunk hoax calls
Nick Cockrell, prosecuting, said Harper, now 30, and Kehoe, now 28, went to the pub on Saturday, May 29, 2021, as their then boss was running security for an event, though they were not set to work at the pub that evening. CCTV showed the two arriving late at night and then getting drinks at the bar. While things were initially calm, they became involved in an argument with landlord John Lunt’s partner, Samantha Casey, who believed she saw Kehoe rifling through a barmaid’s handbag.
Things escalated rapidly. Kehoe accused Ms Casey of having “a bad attitude” and became embroiled in an argument about what he had been doing. Mr Lunt asked the pair to leave and, while they did so, Kehoe shouted to him: “You need to sort your f***ing bird out.”
Harper and Kehoe then went and sat outside the pub for a number of minutes. They had been let out by a fire door and after a few minutes Kehoe opened it and went back in. Stephen Gledhill, another employee who had helped escort the pair out, was inside with Mr Lunt.
Mr Cockrell said: “Mr Lunt and Mr Gledhill were stood in a small area inside the fire door which is also at the bottom of the staircase that leads to the office and staff toilets. Kehoe and Harper both went inside and without any provocation started to attack both Gledhill and Lunt.
“Mr Gledhill was assaulted by the defendants and left seriously injured at the bottom of the stairwell in the public house. Mr Gledhill felt his shoulder “pop” out of place and struck out at both males as he tried to climb the stairs to get away.
“Mr Lunt was then attacked by both males with them throwing punches at him.”
The pair then went inside and attacked another man, Jack Anthony, before going towards the outside of the pub once again. They came across yet another man, Jacob Clark-Royal. Mr Cockrell said: “Mr Jacob Clark-Royal then pushed Kehoe outside. He tried to speak to the males to calm them down but in a totally unprovoked attack, Mr Yates threw one punch at Clark-Royal which knocked him unconscious.
“Mr Clark-Royal lay motionless on the ground and whilst he was there, Mr Kehoe then kicked him twice to the face and head. Mr Harper then punched Mr Clark-Royal to the head.”
Harper and Kehoe were not finished. They went back into the pub again and began demanding money from the till. Mr Lunt, fearing for his staff’s safety, told them to lock themselves into toilets and an upstairs office. Kehoe then went behind the bar, picked up a bottle and assaulted two more men, one of whom was on crutches.
He turned to Mr Lunt, hit him hard on the side of the head with the bottle and then both he and Harper kicked him until he was unconscious.
In a final act of violence, the pair attacked another man outside the pub. CCTV showed Liam Ashton standing alone. He had his hands in the air and was gesturing that he wanted no trouble. Despite this, Yates ran up to him with the bottle before Harper punched him in the head. Both men fled and were later arrested.
They pleaded guilty to multiple counts of wounding and assault. An earlier charge of robbery was not taken forward by prosecutors. In statements to the court, their victims outlined the effects of the assault. Mr Lunt gave up his licence and is now in a significant amount of debt while Mr Clark-Royal has had to give up playing Sunday League football because of his injuries.
Keith Sutton, defending Harper, who has no previous convictions, said he was horrified by the way he had behaved and could remember little of the night. He said: “He is shocked by what he saw of himself on the CCTV but he takes full responsibility.”
Mr Sutton added that both defendants stated they did not go to the pub with the intention of doing what they did. He said: “These defendants did not attend the establishment that night with the intention of causing trouble. They were there for some time, all was well for some time. As my learned friend said, it was the catalyst of the allegation of something being taken which changed the whole atmosphere.”
Jonathan Duffy, defending Kehoe, who has multiple battery convictions, said Kehoe’s ADHD could have impaired his judgement on the evening but said he too accepted responsibility for what he did.
He said: “As with the co-defendant, Mr Kehoe accepts without reservation that his conduct on that night was unacceptable, whatever his perception of what caused it may have been. None of the people he assaulted deserved to be treated in the way he treated them and in respect of his actions during the incident he expresses, through me, remorse.”
Judge Judith Bond told Harper and Kehoe their actions had wide ranging consequences for the victims. She said: “This offence was committed against a man simply doing his job as a licensed premises holder. It came at the end of an 18th birthday party to which you were not invited. Young people were present to see this violence and Mr Lunt clearly felt responsibility for them.
Kehoe, of Cretan Road, Liverpool, was jailed for four years. Harper, of Holland Street, was jailed for two years and eight months.
