6:18pm Saturday 6th March 2010
A Winchester man has been jailed for bottling a fellow street drinker .
Stefan Leigh, 52, of no fixed abode, attacked James Hogan on St Bartholomew Church Path in Hyde last August.
Winchester Crown Court heard that Leigh was annoyed because Hogan was acting in a “lewd manner,” said Lucy Davis, prosecuting.
Leigh admitted wounding with intent. Mr Hogan suffered a cut to his neck that needed stitches, said Miss Davis.
The judge, Mr Recorder Jeremy Stuart-Smith QC, jailed Leigh for 15 months. He had already spent 120 days in custody on remand.
The judge said: “This was an incident that could have been life-threatening. It is inevitable that I must send you to prison.
“I accept Mr Hogan was lewd and reasonably disgusting but there is no justification for taking a bottle and hitting him over the head with it.”
Lucia Whittle-Martin, mitigating, said: “Provocation is a mitigating factor. Mr Leigh took great exception to him (Hogan) exposing himself.”
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