A 26-year-old labourer from Ramsey has been fined £400 after headbutting his cousin in a pub.

Craig Brown, of Parliament Street, admitted disorderly behaviour on licensed premises and was also ordered to pay £50 prosecution costs.

Brown was also banned from entering licensed premises, and buying or being sold alcohol for three months.

drinking

We previously reported that Brown was drinking in the Stanley Hotel in Ramsey on May 11 with his partner and his cousin.

Brown and his partner left the pub but a short time later Brown was said to have returned.

CCTV footage showed Brown confronting his cousin.

Brown then thrust his head forward, making contact with the man’s nose which caused him to stumble backwards, holding his nose.

However, when police arrived the victim said he did not wish to make a complaint.

He was suffering swelling and reddening to his nose but refused medical assistance.

Brown was interviewed by police on June 4 and said he had drunk about eight pints of lager, describing himself as ’quite drunk’.

He said it had been the anniversary of a family death on the night of the incident.

Brown said that he believed his cousin had been trying to persuade his partner to leave him so he lost his temper. He accepted headbutting him.

The court heard that Brown has only one previous matter on his record, a conditional discharge in the UK for threatening behaviour.

A probation report said that Brown was born in the Isle of Man but had left aged 10.

He had returned here with his partner in January 2019 to make a fresh start.

alcoholic

The report said that Brown was working as a labourer but also claiming Employed Person’s Allowance (EPA) and that he had not touched alcohol since the birth of his child four months ago.

Defence advocate Stephen Wood said: ’It’s fair to say headbutts on licensed premises place a defendant outside a financial penalty but as we’ve heard this is not charged as an assault.

’We are not dealing with an action that has caused an injury.

’We are dealing with that brief moment that has caused a disturbance.

’My client shouldn’t have allowed his emotions to get the better of him. He lost his temper in the spur of the moment and he apologises for that.’

Mr Wood went on to say that Brown had apologised to his cousin the following day.

Magistrates ordered Brown to pay his fine and costs at a rate of £10 per week deducted from benefits.