COURT: Reveller jailed after Harrogate nightclub punch-up

A flare-up outside a Harrogate nightclub ended with a man being kicked and stamped on the head.
Richard Sharpe. Image: North Yorkshire PoliceRichard Sharpe. Image: North Yorkshire Police
Richard Sharpe. Image: North Yorkshire Police

The victim was lying in a gutter while 29-year-old Richard Sharpe aimed kicks at him outside Rehab in Parliament Street.

Police were called out and Sharpe was arrested. He later admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

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Sharpe, of Lime Grove, Harrogate, appeared for sentence at York Crown Court on Tuesday knowing full well that a prison sentence was almost a certainty.

Prosecutor Patricia Doherty said trouble flared when six men - including Sharpe and the victim - were ejected from the club in the early hours of August 8 last year.

Sharpe and the victim - who was named in court - remonstrated with door staff and the situation quickly got out of control.

Mrs Doherty said the victim was poised “like a boxer” during the tumult and threw punches, which missed, at a group of men.

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He ended up being thrown to the ground, whereupon Sharpe stamped on his body three times before kicking him square in the face.

Barrister Jon Boumphrey, mitigating, said that mercifully the injuries to the victim were not serious.

Judge Paul QC described the attack as “sickening” but added that the victim himself had been a nuisance, and there had been a degree of provocation.

Sharpe was jailed for 16 months. He will serve half of that sentence before his release.