A DRUNK Whitehaven pub customer turned violent when staff refused to allow him entry to the premises, spitting in the face of one bouncer, attacking her colleague and then biting a bystander.

A judge at Carlisle Crown court told Ian O’Fee that his behaviour on afternoon in July 22 last year was “disgusting.” The 46-year-old defendant, of Brakeside Gardens, Whitehaven, was jailed after he admitting three common assaults.

The court heard that by the afternoon of July 22 last year, as he stood outside the Yellow Earl Bar in Lowther Street, Whitehaven, O’Fee was so drunk that staff decided he should not be allowed back into the bar.

He was already making a nuisance of himself, touching the face of a woman who did not want to be touched. But when staff told him he would not be going into the bar, he took umbrage.

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First he pushed a female member of the door-staff, prompting her to push him back. Due to that and his being drunk, he fell over but this left O’Fee "in a rage”, the court heard.

Standing up, he spat into the woman's eyes. When another bouncer came to help her, O’Fee pushed him to the floor, while swinging punches at the man. The worker blocked three of those blows but a fourth hit his face.

When a bystander courageously intervened to help the door staff, O’Fee turned on him. When he heard police sirens, the defendant bit the man’s arm three time, his teeth sinking so deep that he caused nerve damage.

Kim Whittlestone, defending, said that the defendant had been drunk and that alcohol was clearly a problem in his life. But he had recently done alcohol awareness work with the Probation Service

The barrister spoke of how a previous sentence had included an alcohol monitoring tag but it was put on to his ankle too tightly and his leg had developed and infection.

“Ultimately, it was removed,” said the barrister. “He was complying with it until the difficulty with his leg and the subsequent infection.”

Miss Whittlestone also referred to the defendant’s mental health, pointing out that he was recently diagnosed with schizophrenia and had now been assigned a community mental health worker.

Recorder Paul Hodgkinson told the defendant that the two doorstaff he attacked were simply doing their jobs, trying to protect the public. “You became a nuisance,” said the judge.

“You were in drink and you can’t handle your drink. You must have known about that problem but despite that you went drinking.”

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Referring to the spitting assault on the woman bouncer, the Recorder said: “You stood up and in what can only be described as a disgusting act, you spat at [the woman], a lady who was simply doing her job.

“You spat in her face. You should be ashamed of yourself. It’s disgusting behaviour.” The member of the public O’Fee bit three times needed injections to guard against infections.

“He was off work, all because you can’t handle your drink and don’t know how to behave,” continued the Recorder.

He jailed O’Fee for four months, pointing out that a suspended sentence order he is currently serving, which gives him support for his alcohol issue, will continue when the defendant* is released from prison.

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