Northumberland man attacked teen after being irritated by rowdy youths outside his home
Ricky Spence, of Blyth, punched a 16-year-old after a group of youths disturbed him and one of them kicked his gate
by Rob Kennedy · ChronicleLiveA man who assaulted a teenager after rowdy youths outside his home irritated him and kicked his gate has been jailed.
Ricky Spence was at home on a Saturday night when he was disturbed by the noise of a group of teenagers. He went outside to tell them to go away and words were exchanged.
He went back inside but then one of the group kicked his gate, causing him to storm back out. The teenagers ran off but he gave chase in a car, eventually cornering one of them and repeatedly punching him, despite the lad telling him he was not responsible for what had happened.
Newcastle Crown Court heard it was on a Saturday night in June 2022 that the victim, 16 at the time, had been heading towards the beach from his friend's house, where they had been playing video games. A group of them ended up outside a shop on Plessey Road, Blyth and were "chatting and messing around".
Spence came out of his home, shouting at the group and telling them to "f*** off". He approached one of the teenagers and began to argue about the noise they were making.
He went back into his home but one of the youths then kicked his gate, resulting in him running back out, shouting "come on then". The group ran away but were chased by Spence, who got into a car with another man.
The victim and one of the other teenagers ran into a side street and were cornered. Spence got out of the car and punched him in the face, knocking him into a fence. He ended up in a crouched position and Spence continued to punch and elbow him despite the victim telling him he was not responsible for what had happened.
The teen was left with bruising to his right eye, pain and swelling to his jaw, pain and reddening to the top of his head and small lacerations inside his mouth.
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Spence, 33, of Dalmatia Terrace, Blyth, has three previous convictions and at the time of the latest offence he was on a 16-month suspended sentence imposed in April 2021 for assault occasioning actual bodily harm and assaulting an emergency worker.
In relation to the latest offence, he admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm. For that and being in breach of the suspended prison sentence, he was jailed for 12 months.
Kelly Clarke, defending, said: "This defendant is deeply remorseful in relation to his actions. This was an offence committed late at night when people are usually settling down for bed and relaxing.
"This happened as a result of these youths being in the street. Unfortunately Mr Spence reacted in the way he did. He was not looking for trouble. He knows he has done wrong.
"He has shown his remorse to me. He said he should have walked away and phoned the police and not reacted in the way he did. He is extremely sorry for his actions.
"He is a hard-working man, he mainly works off-shore on oil and gas rigs."
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