Judge condemns trio over attack of "swaggering violence"

TWO thugs guilty of what a judge described as one of the “ugliest incidents of public disorder” he had ever seen have been handed jail terms, while a third escaped a prison sentence by the “skin of his teeth”.

Kane Moffatt, Philip Temperton and Jordan Grimes assaulted two takeaway workers - one of whom was on his first shift - and threw glass bottles and traffic cones, while one of them was heard hurling racist abuse.

All three admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm, while Grimes and Moffatt also pleaded guilty to common assault.

The appalling incident on Mexborough High Street was captured on CCTV and His Honour Judge Watson QC, sitting at Sheffield Crown Court on Friday, said the trio were guilty of “swaggering violence”.

Temperton (21), of Arnold Crescent, Mexborough, was sentenced to ten months in prison.

Moffatt (22), of Hawthorne Crescent, who began serving a 22-month sentence in November for violent disorder, was given 16 months in prison to run consecutively.

Grimes, of Broomhill, Denaby, who was 16 years old at the time of the offence, was handed a 12-month youth rehabilitation order.

On the night of the incident on October 4 last year, the victim, who was not named in court, was working his first shift as a takeaway delivery driver, the court heard.

He drove on to Mexborough High Street and was surrounded by the group of drunken males, one of whom shouted racist abuse, the judge told the court.

The men kicked the car and dragged the takeaway driver to the floor and repeatedly punched and kicked him.

His colleague tried to intervene but was dragged to the ground and was also punched and kicked several times, the court heard.

Glass and traffic cones were thrown at the victims, which caused bruising and a wound to the head.

The judge said: “The four-minute CCTV clip shows swaggering violence that keeps people off the street at night \_ it’s breathtaking to see.”

Father-of-one Moffatt was so intoxicated he could barely stand, but sprung into action like a boxer when the action started, the judge said.

He told Moffatt: “As the group closes in you square up and throw a full weighted punch and that was the trigger. You follow up with a kick and surround him, before attacking his colleague.”

Addressing Grimes, he said: “You became involved as soon as Moffatt swung the first punch and you turn your attention to his colleague when he goes to take shelter in the takeaway.

“You can be seen kicking and punching him on the floor and walk back to the scene and throw the glass towards the car.”

After attacking the vehicle, Grimes was seen jogging “jauntily out of view with his arms raised in triumph”.

The judge added: “Grimes, you were not led on in the night in question, you were stupidly drunk.”

Temperton kicked and punched the victims and “looked pleased with himself”k1.k

The judge said the men showed an arrogance “as if satisfied with their night’s work”.

He added: “The public are sick and tired of this drunken hooliganism and the courts will do whatever it takes to protect vulnerable people so the streets can be claimed by decent, law abiding citizens.”