Man spared jail after headbutting female Wetherspoons manager in the nose

A drunk man who headbutted a female manager at a Wetherspoons in Kent has been spared jail.

Leon Wimsett, 24, assaulted the female victim, who is not being named, at The Peter Cushing pub in Whitstable, Kent.

A court heard the groundworker was convinced he’d left his phone charging behind the bar – despite staff telling him they don’t do this for customers.

He then ‘lost his temper’ and delivered the headbutt, having gotten into another fight in the pub earlier in the evening.

Footage showed him arguing with the manager of the pub before assaulting her without warning as she calmly asked him to leave.

Wimsett, of Herne Bay, Kent, admitted charges of assault and being drunk and disorderly but was spared jail and handed fines and costs totalling £739.

Prosecutor Neil Sweeney said the incident occurred on December 19 last year when the pub manager said she was working a ‘normal shift’.

In a statement from the manager read to the court, she recounted: ‘At around 10:45pm, there had been a fight. Included in this group was the man who later assaulted me.

‘After being told to leave, this male returned to the pub. He appeared quite agitated. He complained his phone was on charge behind the bar, and we were keeping it from him. I explained we hadn’t done that.

‘None of what he was saying made any sense. I told him he needed to leave and that we didn’t have his phone. He kept saying he would call the police. He then headbutted me, hitting me in the nose.’

The court heard police were called, with Wimsett later identified as the attacker by witnesses at the scene.

Mr Sweeney added: ‘It’s a proper headbutt to a female working in a pub. It did make a connection with her nose. There is the use of substantial force. At the end, you can hear her whimpering or crying.

‘It could have been a far more serious injury. There’s clearly an intention to cause serious injury. It was a reflex action from someone drunk.’

Mr Sweeney added that Wimsett, who lives with his parents, had a ‘proven history of violence’, citing two previous ‘like matters’ of common assault.

The court heard Wimsett had taken cocaine as well as drinking on the night of the attack, and was ‘ashamed’ by what he’d done.

Defending solicitor Roger Davies told the court: ‘I don’t think he’s seen the video. I don’t think he remembers what happened.

‘But I described it to him, and he winced. He’s embarrassed and ashamed. He recognises his responsibility and his shame.’

Mark Wickham, chair of the bench, said the footage of the incident had shocked both him and his colleagues.

He handed Wimsett a suspended prison sentence for the assault, and also ordered him to pay £739 in costs and fines, including £500 compensation to the manager of the Wetherspoons.

He was also given a restraining order, banning him from visiting the pub, while no separate penalty was given for a second charge of being drunk and disorderly.

As he left the dock, Wimsett thanked the bench for sparing him jail, saying: ‘You won’t see me again, I promise you.’

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