‘DRUNKEN thugs’ who assaulted a man outside a Basingstoke nightclub have avoided going to prison after their case was delayed due to the Covid pandemic, a court has heard.

Charlie Hart and Saul Alan Jones were on a night out with friends at Fever nightclub in December 2018, when they formed part of a group which kicked and punched an off-duty special constable to the ground after he tried to break up a fight.

Police were called to the area at around 3.30am on December 8 2018, where they found a group of males surrounding Bradley Bartlett, who was on the ground and being kicked.

Mr Bartlett was a special constable at the time, however he was off duty and did not reveal his position to the group.

Hart, of Lawrence Close, and Jones, of Dryden Close, were arrested at the scene, but were unable to be interviewed at the time due to intoxication and lack of memory of the events.

Alec Small, prosecuting, told the court that Mr Bartlett was getting some food at the kebab van parked behind the nightclub, when he saw the group “ganging up” on another, unknown male.

Mr Small also played CCTV which showed that “it was looking like there would be a fight”, and Mr Bartlett stepping between the group and the other man, reportedly asking them to “leave him alone”.

He added: “The group instead turned their focus to Mr Bartlett, and he was swarmed before being punched by Mr Jones. Once that first punch was thrown, everyone started to bundle in.”

Mr Small added that “fortunately it was a very short attack”, and when police arrived Mr Bartlett was able to get up from the ground.

A friend took him to hospital, where he needed three stitches to his eyebrow. He was also bruised all over his face and torso.

Mr Small suggested the case be considered “high culpability”, adding: “It is not aggravated by the fact Mr Bartlett was a police officer, they didn’t know that. But it was clear he was an innocent bystander trying to do the right thing, which in my submission does aggravate it.”

Hart, 27, and Jones, 21, initially pleaded not-guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm, but changed their pleas at a previous hearing.

In mitigation, Lucy Conroy, defending Mr Jones, described her client as “the baby of the group”, just 18 at the time.

“Lack of maturity, combined with alcohol, has to be, in my submission, why this matter took place,” she said.

She said Jones was now “a much changed young man from the gentleman who made the decision to get involved.”

Jones is currently subject to a separate, suspended sentence for cannabis production, which Ms Conroy said showed his “youthful stupidity”.

She added that, while “there is no argument that this matter passes the custody threshold”, Mr Jones is “not a violent young man”, and he has since stopped taking drugs. He recently lost his grandfather to Covid-19, and provides support to his mother who suffers from Multiple Sclerosis.

Chloe Jay, defending Mr Hart, added that the delays in the case have had “quite an impact”.

She said that her client was interviewed when alcohol was still in his system, but not asked to recall the events of the night again until 19 months later at Basingstoke Magistrates' Court.

She said: “It has been very difficult for them to remember. He genuinely believed he was acting in self-defence, and clearly he was not.”

She added that Hart is “gainfully employed” and has shown “genuine remorse”.

Addressing the defendants, Judge Angela Morris said: “The victim was doing no more than being public spirited by standing in between you, and others, and a person who, from where he was standing, looked as though he was being picked on.

“The courts take a dim view on drunken thuggery.

Referencing how the group kicked the victim on the ground, she added: “That’s how people get seriously injured. That’s how people die.

“The fact that both of you were sufficiently inebriated that you could not remember your own actions speaks volumes about just how much you had had.”

However, she said that the delay in the case was “something I am entitled to take into account.”

She gave both men a 14-month custodial sentence, suspended for two years, which for Jones will run “in tandem” with his current suspended sentence.

Jones will also be required to complete 15 days of rehabilitation activities and to pay £100 towards compensation for the victim.

Hart, due to his employment, is required to contribute £500 in compensation.

Summing up the sentencing, Judge Morris said: “If you do as required and remain out of trouble for the next two years, that will be the end of the matter.

“But if you get yourself into any more trouble you will come back in front of me and I will send you to prison.”