Scunthorpe man Peter Muller jailed for breaking victim's jaw in 'jealous' nightclub attack

A drunken thug broke a man's jaw in an attack that left him having to eat through a straw for two weeks.

Peter Muller, 31, of Fotherby Road, Scunthorpe, was jailed for two years and three months after admitting inflicting grievous bodily harm on David East on April 4, 2010.

A court heard he was probably angry at seeing the other man on a pub dance floor with a woman who was a mutual friend of both of them.

Mark Kendall, prosecuting, told Grimsby Crown Court that Mr East was with friends in the Blarney Stone public house in Scunthorpe.

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Nicola Barker, a mutual friend of Mr East and Muller, was also there and Mr East was on the dance floor with her.

Muller later punched him in the face without warning from his blind-side, causing him to fall to the floor.

Miss Barker believed that Muller punched him three more times while he was on the floor, said Mr Kendall.

Muller was pulled away by a doorman, Mr Kendall said.

He kicked out at Mr East but missed and was ejected from the premises, the prosecutor said.

Mr East was spitting blood from his mouth and was taken to hospital, where an X-ray revealed he had a broken jaw.

He was transferred to Hull Royal Infirmary and had an operation to wire his jaw shut and insert a metal plate.

He had to eat through a straw for two weeks, said Mr Kendall.

Jeremy Lindsay, mitigating, said the victim suffered "nasty and unpleasant" injuries but Muller claimed he could not remember the incident at all because he was drunk.

Muller had 23 previous convictions, including for wounding in 1997, affray in 2005 and assault in 2006, but had committed no other offences for about five years, said Mr Lindsay.

Muller had not been arrested until this year but the delay was not his fault, added Mr Lindsay.

Unemployed Muller had suffered drink problems in the past but had largely overcome these and turned his life around, said Mr Lindsay.

Judge Robert Moore told Muller: "At night, in crowded licensed premises, you acted in what must have been a jealous rage.

"You didn't alert your victim or give him any chance to defend himself. You used a clenched fist and hit him as hard as you could and tried to carry on hitting him. You had to be pulled off."