Parents jailed for attacking drunk man who made lewd comment about their daughter

A barber and his wife have been jailed for attacking a drunk man with a pair of scissors after he said their daughter was ‘a bit of alright’.

Craig and Jennifer Smith became enraged after they heard Kevin Brookes make the comment about their teenage daughter.

Craig, 45, was captured on CCTV running up to Mr Brookes in the street and punching him repeatedly before Jennifer, 37, joined in.

The victim was stabbed in the stomach with a pair of scissors by Craig who then ran off.

The couple, of Ledbury, Herefordshire, were jailed after they admitted causing actual bodily harm at Worcester Crown Court.

Craig was jailed for 14 months while Jennifer, a former British Airways flight attendant, was sentenced to eight months in prison on Friday.

Judge Nicolas Cartwright said: ‘It’s asserted that some two weeks before this particular day a local alcoholic, the victim in this case, had made a comment outside the barber’s shop that you ran to the the effect that your daughter was ‘a bit of alright’.

‘The comment was a seedy remark by a local known alcoholic and it was plain on the CCTV footage that he was staggering and intoxicated and therefore vulnerable when Mr Smith came bounding up to confront him.’

The court heard the couple attacked Mr Brookes in Ledbury High Street at 2.15pm on October 1 last year.

He was seen rushing out of the hair salon which he ran with his wife and attacking Mr Brookes in front of shocked shoppers.

Prosecutor Lal Amarasinghe said Craig made a single stabbing motion to the abdomen with the scissors which caused a small injury to the victim’s hip.

He said: ‘During the fight Mrs Smith intervenes.

‘She is seen by witnesses to punch the complainant around the face. When he’s on the floor she kicks him in the face up to four times.’

The victim was bleeding from his face when police arrived. The cut inflicted by the scissors was described as ‘a small superficial cut’.

Mr Brookes refused hospital treatment and declined to provide a statement.

An air ambulance was sent from Strensham as police and paramedic rushed to the scene.

The court heard Craig Smith had a previous conviction for assault occasioning actual bodily harm from 2000 and a caution for criminal damage from 2005 but his wife was of ‘previous positive good character’.

Omar Majid, for Craig Smith, said: ‘Mr Smith has made it very clear he’s ashamed and embarrassed about his conduct on that day.

‘There’s the use of a weapon in the form of scissors. He’s a barber with a shop close to where the incident took place.’

The court heard Craig Smith suffered serious injuries when he was the victim of a robbery last June.

Mark Thompson, for Jennifer Smith, said: ‘For a short period of time she has lost all control and behaved in a way that is entirely out of character for her.’