A man has been jailed after assaulting takeaway staff and biting a police officer when his demands for free garlic sauce for his chips were refused.
Josh Jones, 23, from Sowerby, flew into a rage at Adams Pizza in Northallerton when staff refused to cave in to his demands for free sauce, York magistrates heard.
In a drunken fury, Jones racially abused the owner, assaulted his colleague and smashed the family-run pizzeria’s front window, said prosecutor Sarah Quire.
When police arrived, Jones bit one officer on the leg and assaulted his colleague while screaming abuse at them.
Ms Quire said that Jones went into the pizzeria on High Street “chasing his order for chips and wanting free garlic sauce”.
“He tried to open the (internal) door to get in the back of the shop, (past) the counter,” she added.
As Jones became increasingly aggressive, the owner and his brother tried to calm him down, only for Jones to aim a volley of racial abuse at the owner and demand that he show him his passport.
He was removed from the shop but then punched the front window, prompting the owner’s brother to take him to ground and restrain him, only for Jones to punch him in the face and spit at him.
Jones then threw another punch at the window, smashing a glass pane, causing over £500 of damage.
Police were called out and when an acting sergeant arrived at the scene, Jones was so violent he had to be taken to ground again to effect the arrest. While grappling on the ground, Jones bit the officer on the leg. The bite broke the skin and caused a small bruise.
When he was finally ushered into the back of a police van, Jones became “more agitated” and abusive, demanding that his handcuffs be removed.
When two other police officers tried to restrain him, Jones grabbed one of them by the wrist and refused to let go. He then spat in the officer’s face.
During his subsequent police interview, Jones said he had drunk six pints that day but later told the Probation Service he had drunk eight pints.
Ms Quire said that, according to Jones, he was frustrated because he couldn’t get free garlic sauce for his chips or a particular type of pizza.
Jones, of Kings Gardens, was charged with racially aggravated threatening behaviour towards the pizzeria owner, assaulting the owner’s brother, two counts of assaulting a police officer and damaging property, namely the shop window.
He admitted all five offences and appeared for sentence at York Magistrates’ Court today (June 2).
His solicitor Neil Cutte said that on the day of the incident, October 5 last year, Jones was in an emotionally fragile state after separating from his partner.
He said that Jones had taken Pregablin, the anti-anxiety prescription drug, along with drinking too much, before going into the pizzeria where his behaviour was “out of character”.
He added that Jones was now back with his partner and had full-time work at a local chicken farm.
Mr Cutte said that Jones, who had been addicted to Pregablin for “some considerable time”, was “genuinely remorseful” for his “very bad” behaviour.
District judge Adrian Lower labelled Jones’s behaviour “disgraceful and obnoxious”.
He told the defendant: “You wanted some sauce which you thought should be free in the pizza establishment and you tried to help yourself to it and then matters rapidly deteriorated when you ended up putting the window through.
“Then, in the middle of all this, you are being racially abusive to the (pizzeria owner). This kind of behaviour is unacceptable in Northallerton and anywhere else in North Yorkshire.”
He added: “You are about to find out what happens to people who behave in this kind of way.”
When prison officers turned up beside the dock, Jones looked visibly agitated and interrupted proceedings, telling the judge it was the first time he had ever offended and that he would lose his good name and his job.
The judge said that Jones was becoming “overwrought” and ordered him out of the courtroom before he delivered sentence as officers placed him in cuffs and led him down to the cells.
Mr Lower proceeded to sentence in Jones’s absence and jailed him for 22 weeks, made up of consecutive sentences for racially aggravated threatening behaviour and assaulting the two police officers.
As he passed sentence, the judge said: “I’m sure the streets of Northallerton will be a lot better without the likes of Mr Jones in a drunken state being a thoroughgoing nuisance.”
Jones was also ordered to pay the pizzeria £548 compensation for the repairs to the smashed window, £200 to both the owner and his brother, and £100 to each of the two police officers for the injury and distress caused.
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