Brighton man sentenced for violent attack in Hove bar

A Brighton man has been spared prison after smashing a man’s face in with one punch at a troubled bar in Hove.

Gary Dawes, 30, a roofer, of Saunders Park Rise, Brighton, was sentenced to 20 months in prison suspended for two years after he admitted inflicting grievous bodily harm (GBH) with intent.

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At Misty’s, in Church Road, Hove, Dawes punched another man, Paul Fill, so hard that he was knocked out.

Dawes broke Mr Fill’s cheekbone, eye socket and jaw, causing him injuries described as devastating and life-changing.

The CCTV cameras also pictured two other men being hit in quick succession although, despite a public appeal by Sussex Police, they have never been traced.

Hannah Hurley, prosecuting, said that Mr Fill was taken to the Royal Sussex County Hospital, in Brighton, for treatment.

Miss Hurley said: “He now has a titanium plate in his face. The left side of his face is held in by some 15 screws.

“He still has some numbing to the side of his face, his nose, his lip. And he is in pain every time he eats.”

At Lewes Crown Court this afternoon (Monday 20 March) Judge Shani Barnes said: “The injuries to this man are extremely serious.”

The judge was handed a victim impact statement prepared by Mr Fill. He said that he had been recovering after a major stroke and brain haemorrhage three years ago and had gone out with an old friend.

Mr Fill said: “I now have life-changing injuries. The evening I went out was probably only the second time I had been out since the stroke.”

He said that he was “extremely angry about the assault against me” and that the attack had caused stress and inconvenience to him, his family and his employer.

In mitigation Philip Wakeham, for Dawes, said: “It was one punch … He was out on what was otherwise a convivial evening with other members of his family.

“Someone was giving unwanted attention to his niece who had just turned 18.

“It just seems to have affected him and on the spur of the moment he did what he did.”

It was not suggested to the court that Mr Fill had paid his niece unwanted attention – and Mr Dawes, a father of two, was described as “eight out of ten on the drunkenness scale”.

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“You have, as a young man, accumulated a number of convictions for violence.”

The court was told that Dawes had 13 convictions for 28 offences including assault causing GBH, having a knife, robbery with violence, affray, criminal damage, dangerous driving and failing to stop after an accident.