A drunken thug has been jailed for attacking a food-delivery rider with a glass bottle outside McDonald’s in York.
Jimmy Lee Laverack, 22, struck the Uber Eats cyclist on the head, causing a cut which was oozing blood, York Crown Court heard.
Prosecutor Rob Galley said that moments before the mindless act of violence in November 2019, Laverack had been inside the restaurant threatening diners with the glass bottle, shouting: “Does somebody want to get glassed?”
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He was arrested and charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm but didn’t turn up for his trial. He was found guilty in his absence and appeared for sentence on Wednesday.
Mr Galley said the named delivery rider had parked his bike outside the takeaway and went inside the restaurant. As he did so, “two males” loitering outside McDonald’s took the bicycle and began pushing it down an alleyway.
He went out to remonstrate with them but then backtracked inside the restaurant in a “defensive” poise”.
“It’s apparent that the Uber rider throws a punch at (Laverack) and the defendant retaliated,” added Mr Galley.
Laverack, who had “the stance of a boxer”, then struck the victim on the head with the bottle, which “breaks on impact”.
Fell into the Ouse
Later that night, Laverack and a friend were so drunk they fell into the River Ouse.
Despite his inebriated state, he managed to fit a shop theft into his itinerary, stealing a case of lager from Sainsbury’s in Piccadilly. Police identified him on CCTV.
Laverack admitted the shop theft, as well as another “mean” offence in which he stole from a student house in White Cross Road.
A group of students, including two young women, had been drinking at the property in the early hours of the morning. Laverack and two other men were also present.
Laverack, who had been invited to the party, stole some Hugo Boss aftershave and “high-value” Moschino shorts belonging to one of the male occupants of the house. There was a “confrontation” with Laverack and he was later arrested on suspicion of theft from a dwelling.
When police found him, he was wearing the Moschino shorts but denied stealing them after being hauled into custody, claiming someone had “passed him” the items. He pleaded guilty to the offence when the case reached court.
However, he wasn’t finished yet and on July 21 this year he smashed up the front window of the York Designer Dress Agency in Fossgate, causing £350 damage. His DNA was found at the scene.
Upon his arrest for that offence, Laverack told police he had been “drinking a lot recently and doing stupid things”.
Hazy recollection
Laverack, from York but of no fixed address, also admitted failing to surrender to the court at the time of his trial and was sentenced for all five matters at once due to his delayed trial for ABH.
He had seven previous convictions for 15 offences including burglary, theft by employee, criminal damage and disobeying court orders.
Neil Cutte, mitigating, said Laverack had a “difficult start to life” and had been periodically homeless.
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He said Laverack only had a hazy recollection of the attack on the Uber rider and smashing up the shop window because he was so drunk.
At around the time of the incident at McDonald’s, Laverack had been “introduced to illegal drugs for the first time” by friends and he had tried crack cocaine, added Mr Cutte.
Laverack, who had been working on a “casual basis” at a local pizza parlour and on a stall at York Christmas Market, led a “chaotic lifestyle” and had no contact with his family.
Judge Simon Hickey said “only an immediate custodial sentence” could be justified for Laverack’s epic crime spree.
Referring to the attack on the designer shop in Fossgate, Mr Hickey said: “The store holders and shop owners in York no doubt are sick and tired of people damaging their property.”
He told Laverack: “I do appreciate you have had a very difficult start to life, but it doesn’t excuse you hitting people with glass bottles and breaking windows.”
Laverack was jailed for 10 months and two weeks.