Man jailed for assaulting pub landlord (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Man jailed for assaulting pub landlord

A 26-YEAR-OLD Cirencester man who kicked and punched a licensee during a violent incident in his pub was jailed for nine months last week.

At an earlier hearing in January, Carl Moisejevs had admitted assaulting Mike Pugh, former landlord of Cirencester's Bear pub, causing him actual bodily harm.

His admission came during a trial in which he had initially denied the offence and another charge of affray.

He changed his plea to guilty on the assault charge but the trial of his brother Ricky Moisejevs and half-brother Jason Sampson on associated charges continued.

They were later both acquitted.

Last Friday, Carl Moisejevs, of Watermoor Road, Cirencester, was back in the dock for sentence after a pre-sentence report had been prepared on him by the probation service.

Michael Longman, defending, accepted that Moisejevs had a bad record for violence but pointed out that he had stayed out of trouble in recent years and was proud of that achievement.

Moisejevs accepted that he was bound to receive a custodial sentence for the attack of Mr Pugh, he said.

Mr Longman asked the court to accept that the evidence in the trial had not proved that Moisejevs was responsible for knocking the landlord to the floor initially inside the pub.

He also asked the court to accept on Moisejevs' behalf that he was punched in the face by the landlord during the incident.

"Mr Moisejevs is one of a large and close family," he said. "The family rally round to protect their own, particularly Ricky, who had plainly got into difficulties for whatever reason earlier that night.

"But I accept there was nothing that happened which justified the defendant's behaviour."

Mr Longman said Moisejevs' 'high level of loyalty' for his family and his brother had led to him offending that night.

Jailing Moisejevs, recorder Richard Smith told him: "With Mr Pugh on the floor immobile and defenceless, there was a weight of evidence that you kicked him about his body and about his face.

"One witness said there were three-four kicks and another said several kicks. They were, in the view of one witness, very violent.

"I am sure you accept that conduct was unacceptable.

"Outside the pub, on the CCTV, you were seen to deliver two punches to Mr Pugh. Mr Pugh ended up with unpleasant injuries, to say the least, to his face.

"It is regrettable that you have shown no great element of remorse and that you still feel justified, in part, in what you did."

During the trial, the court heard that Mr Pugh was left with a broken nose, severe bruising around both eyes and on his arms and a cut on his head.

The court heard that he was attacked after he asked Ricky Moisejevs, who was banned from the pub because of a previous incident, to leave.