“Jekyll and Hyde” pubgoer avoids jail for drunken spat

Monday 14 October 2019

A Magistrate has warned a pubgoer against continuing his “Jekyll and Hyde” lifestyle after he spat on a doorman who removed him from the Troubadour for his drunken behaviour.

Speaking at his sentencing hearing, Magistrate Bridget Shaw chastised 24-year-old Charley Mills for leading a split life where he is a “caring, devoted grandson”, who she said also gets drunk and behaves “appallingly."

Charged with being drunk on licensed premises, common assault, resisting arrest and failing to appear for a previous hearing, Mills appeared in the Magistrate’s Court last week.

Pictured: The case was heard in the Magistrate's Court.

The Court heard that the charges related to an incident on 5 July this year when Mills was removed from the Troubadour pub due to his drunken behaviour. He was captured on CCTV being “aggressive” towards the door staff outside the establishment before “spitting” on one of them and fleeing the area with a friend.

Police were called, and, when they caught up with Mills, he continued to be aggressive and kept asking them why he was being arrested. 

As officers tried to detain him, the 24-year-old “would not stay still” and “kept crossing his hands” so that they could not put the handcuffs on him. Due to his resistance and “potential to be violent”, Mills “had to be taken to the ground” where he carried on resisting, being aggressive and he also proceeded to “spit all over the Police vehicle".

Defending Mills, Advocate Lucy Marks urged the Court not to send her client into custody so as to allow him to "maintain stability" in his life.

If the Court were to send Mills to prison, she argued, he would lose his job which is “a key stabilising factor in his life."

Pictured: Mills was charged with resisting arrest.

Advocate Marks continued by saying that the series of events on the evening in question led to her client becoming “worked up and frustrated” and that he “struggles with managing his feelings of anger and anxiety” due to a head injury he suffered in the past.

Speaking of the spitting, the defence lawyer emphasised that “whilst extremely unpleasant”, the attack “did not involve physical violence”. However, she said that Mills accepts it was “distressing and unacceptable” and offered his apologies to the Court.

“Your patience is no doubt wearing thin… the narrative is very much in line with previous offences,” the lawyer remarked to Magistrate Bridget Shaw who was presiding over the courtroom. 

Despite this, the defence Advocate said that with the Probation Service’s support, Mills would be “better equipped to make better choices".

Although the 24-year-old had previously been in trouble with his last Probation Officer, Mills’s advocate urged the Court that “he has learned the lesson of failing to comply."

Handing down her decision, Magistrate Shaw addressed Mills directly, telling him: “Your behaviour to other people cannot continue like this.” 

Pictured: Magistrate Bridget Shaw presided over the Court.

She pointed out that the references from members of his family and employer “describe a very different person” to the one who was arrested in July.

“You cannot live a Jekyll and Hyde life,” she cautioned him.

Ultimately, the Magistrate decided to hand Mills a 12-month probation order and exclude him from licenced premises for the same period. She also ordered him to pay £250 compensation to the doorman whom he spat on and fined him £500 for resisting arrest as well as a further £250 for failing to come to Court. 

As a parting warning, Magistrate Shaw reminded Mills of a recent Jersey case where a pub fight resulted in the death of 65-year-old Melvin Christopher Murphy.

“Prove me right to give you another chance. I really don’t want to see you here again,” she said before describing how Mr Murphy died after "he was punched once in the face". 

“That’s all it takes,” Magistrate Shaw told Mills. 

To this, he replied: “I’m slowly coming to that realisation, ma’am.”

Pictured top: The Troubadour pub. (Facebook/Troubadour)