Man jailed for an appalling and sustained attack on his wife outside a Southam pub

A drunken man who carried out an appalling and sustained attack on his wife, punching and kicking her in the street outside a Southam pub, has been jailed.
At Warwick Crown Court, Charles Quinn (33) of Broome Road, Wolverhampton, was jailed for 16 months after earlier pleading guilty to a charge of affray.At Warwick Crown Court, Charles Quinn (33) of Broome Road, Wolverhampton, was jailed for 16 months after earlier pleading guilty to a charge of affray.
At Warwick Crown Court, Charles Quinn (33) of Broome Road, Wolverhampton, was jailed for 16 months after earlier pleading guilty to a charge of affray.

Rejecting a suggestion that Charles Quinn could be given a suspended sentence, a judge at Warwick Crown Court said that only immediate imprisonment was appropriate.

Quinn (33) of Broome Road, Wolverhampton, was jailed for 16 months after earlier pleading guilty to a charge of affray.

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Prosecutor Ian Windridge explained that Quinn had not been charged with assault because, despite the beating he gave her, his wife would not make a formal complaint.

So the affray charge was based on CCTV recordings from Southam town centre showing Quinn’s repeated attacks on her in the street over a period of more than ten minutes.

Playing the CCTV recordings, Mr Windridge said that on November 10 Quinn and his wife and another woman were in a group who spent some time drinking in the Bowling Green pub in Southam.

At one point the staff refused to serve them with any more because they were drunk.

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So at around 10.30 the three of them went outside where Quinn, who had been given a police caution eight days earlier for assaulting his wife, hit her to the face.

She and the other woman walked away, but Quinn followed them into the road and headbutted her and dragged her to the pavement where he knocked her to the ground and kicked her.

When she got to her feet and tried to get away, he pursued her and continued to attack her by headbutting and punching her again to the face.

A man who had seen what was going on went over to try to intervene, trying to reason with Quinn who punched out at him and then went after him as he walked away.

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The two women went back towards the Bowling Green, but Quinn returned and began punching his wife again outside the pub, pulling her back as she tried to escape from him.

When she broke free and went out into the road, he followed her, knocked her to the ground and kicked her again before walking away.

She and the other woman headed in the opposite direction, but he then went after them again and began punching her hard to the face as he had her pinned against a barrier.

And Judge Andrew Lockhart QC observed: “There are a significant number of punches to the face.”

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Quinn suddenly stopped and ran off as a police car came into view, but was caught and arrested, added Mr Windridge.

Jabeen Akhtar, defending, handed in letters from Quinn and from his mother-in-law, and said: “What he says is that he’s thoroughly embarrassed and ashamed of his behaviour that night.

“He has a record for driving matters and dishonesty, but had never been violent until the 2nd of November.

“He says he had never previously laid a finger on anyone, and will never do so again. He is disgusted with himself.”

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But Miss Akhtar said that in the pub Quinn’s partner ‘gave as good as she got,’ and the bartender had had to speak to all three of them.

Miss Akhtar argued that Quinn, a landscape gardener, needed ‘some serious help,’ and had already voluntarily sought help to deal with his drinking problem, and has not drunk since that day because he was so shocked at the way he had behaved.

Jailing Quinn, Judge Lockhart told him: “You are a fit, strong man. You have no previous convictions for violence, and it is clear you have a serious alcohol problem.

“On the 2nd of November you received a caution for assaulting your partner, so you had been warned. A week later you were out in Southam, and I’ve watched the video of what happened.

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“Something goes wrong in the pub, and then it spills out into the street where you chase your partner around, punching her repeatedly to the head, and you kicked her on the ground.

“It happened over five or six events. The video went on, it seems, for about 20 minutes, and we have watched 10 minutes of it. This was a sustained incident, and there was serious fear and distress.

“It is absolutely clear that appropriate punishment can only be achieved by immediate imprisonment.”