A farmer who broke a man’s nose when he drunkenly headbutted him at a Chelsea nightclub has been spared prison after a judge decided he had “learned a lesson”.
Mitchel Britten, 24, of Wymondham, Norfolk, had spent the afternoon drinking beer at an England v New Zealand cricket Test at Lord’s before going to the Cuban-themed Embargo Republica club in King’s Road. He attacked victim Neil Brotherson on the dance floor, breaking his nose with a headbutt that put him in hospital for two days.
Britten, who works on his family’s Norfolk farm, denied the assault at trial, claiming he had only used his head to push Mr Brotherson away because he was using his hands to hold his gin and tonic. However, a jury at Isleworth crown court convicted him of assault occasioning actual bodily harm in the attack on May 25, 2015.
Judge Nicholas Wood imposed a community order on Britten after hearing the incident was “out of character”.
“I think you have learned a lesson by having a few days in the crown court,” he said. Judge Wood ordered him to pay £500 compensation to Mr Brotherson but spared him the £3,500 cost of his trial.
