A McDonald’s manager was knocked out after a family ‘went beserk’ during a brawl over a burger, a court has heard.
Fists, trays, stools and bags of food flew around the restaurant after the Jones family ‘stormed’ the takeaway. Some junior staff members had to escape through the drive-thru window.
A judge at Swansea Crown Court told Huw Jones, his adult sons Sam Jones and Kiayer Jones, and his son-in-law Thomas Hamilton that they had acted like “hooligans”. He said the quartet should be “wholly ashamed” of their behaviour.
READ MORE:
Tom Scapens, prosecuting, said the incident happened on the evening of Saturday, November 4 last year at McDonald’s in Baglan, South Wales, when the restaurant was busy with customers, including many children. He said the incident started when Thomas Hamilton and his sister-in-law attended at the restaurant with a complaint about a burger order which had been delivered.
The court heard Hamilton was angry and confrontational, and when his sister-in-law tried to calm him down he pushed her aside. Hamilton was asked to leave but he pushed a manager and threw punches and then a violent scuffle ensued with two managers grappling with the defendant and trying to eject him. Hamilton did eventually leave and his sister-in-law then phoned her father – Huw Jones – and said Hamilton was being “battered”.
The court heard a short time later a shirtless Jones arrived at the restaurant in his van and “marched” inside. He then began shouting and swearing at the managers, threatening them, and demanding they go outside to fight him. This went on for several minutes before he returned to the car park where he joined Hamilton and his two sons Sam and Kiayer who had also been summoned to the burger joint by a phone call.
The court heard the four men then rushed into McDonald’s and stormed behind the counter, smashing a till and screen and throwing around metal trays, a wet floor warning sign, and bags of food which were waiting to be collected for delivery. Huw Jones then picked up a stool with a heavy metal leg and base and threw it at one of the managers. The stool hit its target on the head and the manager went to the floor where he was kicked several times, though it is not known by which defendant or defendants. The prosecutor said while this “melee” was happening youngsters in the restaurant fled in fear, and a number of junior members of staff hid while others climbed out through the building’s drive-thru window.
The brawlers eventually ran out of the restaurant, jumped back into their vehicles, and drove off. The restaurant was closed and the injured manager, who was left dazed and slipping into and out of consciousness and with blood comig from a head wound, was taken to hospital. The court heard the cost to McDonald’s of the incident, including damage done and having to shut the business for a time, was £5,799.
Huw Jones, 54, Wharf Road, Briton Ferry, Thomas Hamilton, 20, Windsor Road, Chester, Sam Jones, 25, Lilian Street, Port Talbot, and 27-year-old Kiayer Jones, of Giants Wharf, Briton Ferry, had all previously pleaded guilty to affray when they appeared in the dock for sentencing. Huw Jones had also previously pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm. He has 12 previous convictions for 16 offences including violence matters which are “of some antiquity”. None of the other defendants have any previous convictions.
James Hartson, for Huw Jones, said the defendant had “reacted poorly to a panicked phone call” and had “jumped to conclusions about events he didn’t even witness”. He said Jones had been involved in a local boxing gym for many years which was “only a force for good” in the community, and was mortified and remorseful about his actions. He added that on the day in question the defendant had visited the grave of his late wife, and he said the loss of his partner of more than 30 years some six months earlier had made Jones’ long-standing anxiety and depression more acute.
Ian Ibrahim, for Hamilton, said it was accepted the incident was sparked by a complaint about a burger and that the defendant realised how “ridiculous” that now sounds. He said for some “unfathomable reason” the complaint escaped into violence and it was accepted his client was the “catalyst” for what unfolded. He said the defendant was one of 13 siblings of parents from Cheshire who had married into the Briton Ferry family some 10 months ago. The barrister added that Hamilton had left school at the age of 11 and was unable to read or write, and when he had asked the defendant if he had written a letter to the judge he had been told he would have done if he could.
David Singh, for Sam Jones, said his client had been at his sister’s house when he got the call about his brother-in-law being “battered” and decided to drive to McDonald’s with his brother Kiayer. He said when the pair arrived they saw their shirtless father Huw “Pappy” Jones in the car park and “erroneously believed” something had happened. The barrister said his client has young children and runs a successful roofing business, and he “bitterly regrets” his involvement in the offending. Ryan Bowen, for Kiayer Jones, said he accepts there was no excuse for his behaviour on the day in question. He said the defendant was a father-of-five with a sixth child due in December and was embarrassed by his actions in McDonald’s.
Recorder Ben Blakemore told the four defendants they should all be “wholly ashamed” of themselves for their involvement in what he called a “particularly unpleasant” incident. He said matters had been started by Hamilton who had been “looking for an argument” with the store manager before Huw Jones “stormed in” being “obnoxious, abusive, aggressive and confrontational” and intent on having a fight. He said the two Jones boys had then “eagerly joined in” and four men had rushed the counter throwing objects and punches. The recorder said: “The four of you in a hooligan way went berserk. I reminded myself this was all because of a burger order.”
With a one-third discount for his guilty pleas, Huw Jones was sentenced to 12 months in prison – he will serve up to half that sentence in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community. With one-third discounts for their guilty pleas the other defendants were each sentenced to 12 months in prison suspended for 18 months and were ordered to complete rehabilitation courses and to abide by electronically monitored nightly curfews for the next four months.
They were also ordered to complete unpaid work in the community – 200 hours in the case of Hamilton and 180 hours each for the Joneses. Each of the three defendants who received suspended sentences will also have to pay McDonald’s £600 in compensation. Recorder Blakemore told the trio they had come close extremely close to following their father into prison and he warned them if they breached their suspended sentences and did not take the opportunity the court had given them they would be following him.
EMEA Tribune is not involved in this news article, it is taken from our partners and or from the News Agencies. Copyright and Credit go to the News Agencies, email news@emeatribune.com Follow our WhatsApp verified Channel
