A PLUMBER spent Christmas in jail after magistrates heard he assaulted a pub doorman while he was already under a suspended prison sentence for battering his partner.

Father-of-two Jake Haines was sent down for a total of 12 weeks following a hearing at Swindon Magistrates on December 20.

Prosecutor Kate Prince said the victim, the head doorman at the Kings bar on August 19, went to the front room to deal with reports of a man causing a disturbance. It was Haines, who had been drinking and was trying to take glasses on to the dancefloor. He was ejected but remained in the street at the front of the nightspot, shouting and swinging his arms around.

He threw a punch which the doorman managed to avoid, but followed it up with another that hit him in the mouth.

Haines then turned and started running away but stumbled and fell over the kerb. The door staff, who had given chase, then fell on him.

Miss Prince told the court Haines was given a 12-week suspended sentence in February for offences of battery and had breached it with the latest assault.

Haines, of Donnington Grove, Swindon, admitted assaulting the doorman and breaching his suspended sentence.

Sambreen Arif, defending, said; “He recalls a bouncer asking him to move away from the dancefloor and effectively walking him out of the pub.

“He accepts that he had been drinking and he accepts that he swung for the security guard.”

But he claimed he did not trip and that he was assaulted by the door staff. He didn’t make a complaint, but Miss Arif said after police arrived and arrested him he was taken straight to the Great Western Hospital and kept in overnight because of his injuries before being transferred to custody.

She explained Haines’ late change of plea had come about because of difficulty contacting potential defence witnesses.

He was currently in full time work and had completed the 120 hours of unpaid work imposed on his in February as part of the suspended sentence that was imposed for domestic violence.

“During this suspended sentence period he has turned his life around quite significantly,” she told the bench.

He was halfway through a positive relationships course, had engaged well with the help that probation had to offer and was back with his partner. He had also completed a six-month gas qualification.

She urged the bench to consider a community order and let his suspended sentence carry on.

In a pre-sentence report the court heard his offender manager had also asked for the sentence to continue.

But the bench decided to activate part of the sentence and told him he would got to jail for six weeks for the breach and another six for the assault, to run consecutively.

He was also ordered to pay £200 compensation to his victim when he is released.