60-year-old football fan glassed youth after AFC Mansfield match

A 60-year-old football fan smashed a glass into the side of a young man's head when he was "wound up" following an AFC Mansfield match, a court heard.
The Welfare on Clipstone Road West, Forest TownThe Welfare on Clipstone Road West, Forest Town
The Welfare on Clipstone Road West, Forest Town

Peter Craggs lashed out in the bar of the Mansfield Colliery Miners Institute, at 10.30pm, on November 28, last year.

Prosecutor Robert Carr said there was an exchange between the victim and Craggs, and the victim "accepted that he was trying to wind him up."

Blood was pouring from the right side of his head, Mr Carr said, but he was very drunk, and didn't get hospital treatment until the next day.

The victim was left with two V-shaped scars near his right ear, and reported feeling self-conscious when he goes out, and having to sleep with the television on because of a buzzing in his ears.

The court heard Craggs, a former West Notts College tutor and ex-miner, was convicted of assault, in 1981.

Sarah Neale, mitigating, said CCTV, which was not available to the court, showed the build-up to the assault, and Craggs' victim blowing e-cigarette smoke into his face several times.

"Mr Craggs picked up the glass with the intention of throwing his drink and the young man came around the table," she said. "The glass smashed into the side of his face.

"He accepts that as a result of picking up the glass that is what happened."

She said Craggs, a father-of-two, doesn't go out often because of health and mobility issues, and was now "concerned about bumping into the same group of people."

Probation officer Cheryl Nisbet said the victim "lurched into him" when he picked up the glass, , and Craggs was taken to the floor and punched and kicked.

She said he was banned from the venue until the court case is concluded.

Craggs, of Pecks Hill, admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm, when he appeared at Mansfield Magistrates Court, on Thursday.

He was given an 18-week prison sentence, suspended for 12 months, with a three month curfew, from 7pm to 7am.

He was ordered to pay his victim £300, with costs of £85 and a £115 government surcharge.