Drunk ex-soldier beat up hospital worker in unprovoked attack after Cheltenham Gold Cup

Builder Alastair Holmes, 29, of Salters Road, Walsall, was sitting on a wall in Hatherley Lane, Cheltenham, on the night of March 13, 2020, when he saw 55-year-old health care assistant Warren Finn walking home from work at Cheltenham General Hospital.

Holmes followed Mr Finn and then "lunged at him and set about punching him repeatedly to the head", said prosecutor Catherine Flinn at Gloucester Crown Court on Thursday.

She said Holmes gripped Mr Finn by the throat, put him in a headlock and forced him down onto the ground.

Delivery driver, Miles Burden, came upon the scene and stopped and called the police, she said. Mr Burden saw "continual punches" being rained down on Mr Burden with full force by Holmes.

In a statement, Mr Burden said "The victim fell into the road in front of my van, two to three car lengths away. I switched my hazard lights on and called the police.

"While I was on the phone to the police the physical contact continued for at least 20 seconds. The attacker kicked the man with his right foot. I can't remember the number of times he kicked him but he was effectively driving his foot into the left shoulder and head of the older man.

"After 20 seconds the attacker suddenly came to the realisation that I was there and walked away."

Arrested

Ms Flint said Mr Finn was taken to hospital and on the way saw Holmes and pointed him out to the police. Holmes was immediately arrested.

At hospital, Mr Finn was found to have a deep cut to the back of his head, a rip to the right ear lobe and an injury which he believed was a bite to his finger. He also had soreness and bruising around his neck and a graze on his elbow.

In a victim statement, Mr Finn said he did not sleep well for a few days after the attack and kept having flashbacks of being in a headlock.

"It felt like if I didn't fight back he was intent on killing me," stated Mr Finn.

He said he now felt angry that the attack had kept him off work, preventing him playing his part in the NHS response to the start of the pandemic.

His partner, also a frontline NHS worker, had to miss duty as well to help care for him, he said.

"Whenever I go out I find myself double checking people who are dressed in a similar style to my attacker," he stated.

"I often stop, change my route or brace myself for another attack. I am shocked that there are people who clearly get off on this level of violence to others."

'Shameful'

He said he belonged to a church group and had asked members to pray for his attacker to 'turn his life around.'

Ms Flint said Holmes told police he had been too drunk to remember anything about the assault.

Holmes' defence lawyer said he accepted it had been a 'shameful' incident and he had put his hands up to it from the start.

"He is not a violent man," said the advocate. "He is not a man who even goes out very often. On this occasion he had been invited to the Cheltenham Gold Cup by his brother. He then got lost trying to find his way to the train station.

"He has deep regret for this offence. He doesn't understand why it happened.

"He says he will never go out drinking with his friends again. "

Holmes, a father of one, whose partner is expecting their second child, pleaded guilty to assaulting Mr Finn causing him actual bodily harm.

He was jailed for eight months by Recorder James Newton-Price QC, who told him "You have served in the armed forces and you were a PT instructor. You were a well respected member of the Parachute Regiment.

"I accept this offence was out of character for you. But this was a prolonged, unprovoked and forceful attack on an entirely blameless and much older man, who you did not know, in a public place."