Bury St Edmunds man accuses RAF Honington airman James Sinclair in Ipswich Crown Court trial

An airman struck a 71-year-old man ‘like a fairground punch bag game’ in Bury St Edmunds, an alleged victim has said.

James Sinclair, 24, of 27 Squadron, RAF Honington, is charged with one count of grievous bodily harm and one count of assault by beating.

A 12-member jury was sworn in this morning (Monday, December 16) and Ipswich Crown Court heard the opening of a trial.

Phillip Farr, prosecuting, said Sinclair is accused of inflicting assault by beating on Patrick Cleary and grievous bodily harm on his father Thomas in the early hours of November 24 last year in Tayfen Road, Bury St Edmunds.

In his opening statement, Mr Farr said: “Patrick Cleary, who was 31, and his father Thomas Cleary, 71, had been out for the evening in various local pubs in Bury St Edmunds - The Grapes, Gym Bar and the Kings Arms.

“They were approached and attacked by the defendant James Sinclair. The defendant had been on a night out and picked a fight with Patrick Cleary. (Sinclair) firstly assaulted him and then turned his attention to Thomas who he punched only once in the face.

“Patrick sustained only minor injuries as a result but the punch to Thomas Cleary was much more serious. He was knocked off his feet and fell onto the ground where he remained until police and ambulance services arrived. He was badly injured and taken to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, where a CT scan showed he had a fractured skull.”

He said Sinclair has admitted these actions, but ‘the Clearys were the aggressors’ and that he acted in defence ‘in proportion with the threat he faced’.

“We say, however, that self defence is no more than an excuse for what was a wholly unprovoked attack and wholly disproportionate to any threat he faced,” added Mr Farr.

Patrick Cleary, giving evidence, said he often drank in pubs with his father at around closing time, and had done on the evening of November 23 after he finished a ‘long day at work’.

He told the court Sinclair had ‘pounced’ on them after they’d left Pizza Mama Mia, and asked if either of them had a lighter, to which they’d both said they had not.

“After I said no, he replied ‘motherf*****’ and you don’t talk like that to people where I am from,” said Patrick Cleary - who then responded to Sinclair with a jibe about his mother.

He swung a haymaker into his face.

“He (Sinclair) said ‘you are disrespectful’ and then I raised my voice and said ‘no, you are disrespectful’. I crossed the road and received a whack to my left hear and a whack to my right. He swung a punch. I was left with a mark on my face.

“I tried to throw punches back but I did not land any.

“My father did not open his mouth. (Sinclair) was walking to where my father is and swung a haymaker into his face.

“He hit him like you hit a punch bag game at a fun fair. He went straight down and he was out of it.

“I tried to keep hold of him (Sinclair). I grabbed him but I could not keep hold of him, and he wiggled away and jogged off, but the flat cap he was wearing fell off.”

Thomas Cleary is said to have no recollection of the incident because of his injuries and will not be giving evidence.

Patrick Cleary said he’d had six pints on an empty stomach in the three hours he’d been out, but this had ‘little effect’ - and said he was ‘a two out of ten’ on an intoxication scale because he ‘drinks out quite a lot’.

His father had drunk the same amount.

“I would say he was affected more than me,” said Patrick, “So maybe he was a three or four, he was slurring his words a little bit but he was not unsteady on his feet.”

Catherine Bradshaw, defence, said a friend spoke to Thomas Cleary out of concern, saying ‘he has had enough to drink’.

During cross examination, she said Patrick Cleary had not used the word ‘haymaker’ in his police report and questioned why his father would stand by and watch him attacked.

“I would suggest your father fell to the ground because he was unsteady on his feet,” she said - which Patrick Cleary, who gave evidence from behind screens, denied.

He also denied Ms Bradshaw’s suggestion that he was the aggressor, and retreated when he realised ‘you’d picked on someone you shouldn’t have picked on’.

A taxi driver called to give evidence this afternoon said: “Both were throwing punches at each other.

“The one in the dark jacket (earlier shown to be Sinclair) was the one gunning for it… he was the aggressor.”

The trial, expected to take two more days, continues.

This article was amended to state that a friend of Thomas Cleary had told him he'd had enough to drink rather than a member of pub staff, as originally reported.