Man who went on karaoke rampage in Walsall pub locked up
A rampaging thug wielding a wooden baton who burst into a Walsall pub attacking customers, including two women, has been locked up for almost three years.
Michael Bent ran into the Prince of Wales shouting, ‘I will take you all on’, before hitting one woman over the head and twice striking an arm of the other, a judge heard.
It came shortly after the 31-year-old had been asked to leave the pub in Stafford Street after ignoring pleas to calm down at a karaoke evening.
Five minutes later he started knocking on the window and the fire door was partially opened to discover what was going on, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.
An eyewitness said Bent, who was said to be drunk, wrenched open the door and re-entered the pub brandishing the wooden baton ‘like he was on a rampage,’ said Mr Simon Phillips, prosecuting.
The defendant sent a karaoke speaker flying and hit a woman over the head as she went to pick it up.
He then beat the other woman who went to her aid on December 10 2016, continued the prosecutor.
Bent, who took the baton from his ruck sack after being kicked out of the pub, left the premises again as police were called.
Officers traced him to a nearby takeaway soon afterwards. The injured women suffered cuts and bruises.
While on bail for this incident he was detained again after abusing a pregnant neighbour, threatening to ‘kick the baby out of her’ on February 23 this year, revealed Mr Phillips who explained:
“He had fallen out with the woman’s brother who he thought spat at him out of a window.
"He banged on her door, managed to get into her kitchen and swept items off the table onto the floor before warning: ‘Do you want me to smash the house up while I am here?’ Then he made the threat to her unborn child.”
Bent had previous convictions for 23 separate offences several of which involved offensive weapons and violence.
He was jailed for seven months after threatening another neighbour with a kitchen knife during a bust up in May 2016.
Mr Stephen Cadwaladr, defending, said: “He has a relatively short fuse and reacts badly is he perceives threats to his family.”
Bent, of Leamore Lane, Walsall, was found guilty of affray and admitted two assaults and possession of an offensive weapon.
He was jailed for two years 11 months by Judge Simon Ward who told him: “You randomly attacked people.
“Then you were involved in a serious and ugly incident with a neighbour. If you carry on like this you will just face longer and longer prison sentences.”
