Man speaks of anguish at having son see him vulnerable after attack

Apr 18 2008

A loving father - punched, kicked and left in heap by young thugs...

FOR loving father Gareth Gregory – punched unconscious in an unprovoked attack – what hurt most was the look on his young son’s face when he realised his dad was vulnerable.

For Jordan, 13, his dad represented everything he looked up to – the strong man who took him to boxing and football and looked after him.

Gareth, 35, from The Paddock, Elton, but originally from Upton, Chester, said: "What hurt me was when my son walked through the door and saw me. The thing that hit me was the look on his face because I’m his big dad.

"He looks up to dad, his big dad who takes him boxing and to football, then he finds out that he got knocked out by a 17-year-old kid."

On October 19 last year, Gareth had been for a meal and drinks at Amore Bar and Restaurant in Frodsham with his fiancée Victoria Flannery, 30, her uncle Jason, his wife Alison and friend Phil over from Ireland.

As the group left Top Taste takeaway on Main Street, Frodsham, a gang of about 10 thugs called out at Victoria and one youth grabbed her arm.

When Gareth asked why they had called out, Liam Guest, 18, of Queensway, Frodsham, punched him unconscious. Daniel Rigby, also 18 from Park Lane, Frodsham, then ran up and kicked Gareth in the head while he lay helpless on the floor.

Guest, who hopes to become a bricklayer or soldier, described it as a pre-emptive strike. In Chester Crown Court he was sentenced to six months in a young offenders’ institute.

He previously had a warning for an "identical" offence in August 2005 and a conditional discharge from July 2006. He has stopped drinking.

Rigby’s barrister said it was an "impulsive action" which was not sustained or repeated, and he has the support of his family. He has a BTEC in music technology and worked at Forest Hills Hotel before becoming a warehouse operative.

He had a caution in October 2006 for actual bodily harm and a warning from March last year. He was handed nine months in a young offenders institute.

But what also horrified the court was the gang’s actions afterwards. Although Guest and Rigby were not involved, the others rocked the ambulance while paramedics treated Gareth inside.

Recorder of Chester Judge Edwards said: "It is disgraceful behaviour when paramedics arrive on the scene looking after a man on the ground. What are things coming to when young men behave like that?

"This kind of pointless thuggery on our streets will not be tolerated. The public are heartily sick and tired of this kind of violence in our towns and cities by people who have had too much to drink."

Gareth, 15-and-a-half stone and 6ft tall, said: "I was a school governor for three-and-a-half years at my son’s school and you see kids like that.

"If they showed remorse I would have dropped it there and then – I would’ve been happy with that because at the moment the judicial system is really poor."

Gareth has lost his ability to taste sweet foods and is seeing a psychiatrist in Saughall. He is also on anti-anxiety tablets.

But he is not worried about himself, only concerned about the effect on children Jordan and Bethany, seven, and Victoria, a night practitioner at Halton Hospital.

Suffering with sleep deprivation, he wakes up in the middle of the night to make sure Jordan, who goes to Frodsham High School, is all right.

Gareth, a self-employed computer engineer for Lozngra, said: "You think you’re going mad – when is this going to stop?

"That could have been my son. I could have been burying him six months ago."

Gareth is aware that in a few years’ time, Jordan will be going for nights out in Frodsham as well, and is worried because he does not believe it was an isolated incident.

"I would love to have them here, to have them sit down in my house. I would make them dinner, buy them a couple of beers and say "that’s my son; that’s my daughter – the pretty little thing in the corner; that’s my fiancée. We’re due to get married. You could have all this too.

"This is what we worked for and you tried to take that away from me. Why?"