A Crown Court judge has warned of the dangers of high-strength cannabis after a notorious York man was jailed for attacking a “complete stranger” by smashing a glass bottle in his face.
Luke Fletcher, a “heavy” user of the drug, had been smoking cannabis in the run-up to the mindless attack on the victim as he took an innocent stroll through York.
The named victim was walking through the Union Terrace car park when he suddenly “saw a hand swing towards him” and a glass bottle smash into his face, just above his eye.
He turned around and saw a man “jumping up and down” and “whooping” as if in celebration, said prosecutor Kelly Clarke.
She said that Fletcher had been asked to leave his homeless hostel in Union Terrace just before the random attack after causing trouble with other residents.
“A short time later, (the named victim) was walking along the Union Terrace car park near the homeless centre,” added Ms Clarke.
“He has crossed the car park to go onto Clarence Street (and) almost immediately he saw a hand swinging towards him and felt impact to his left eye.
“A large glass bottle had been smashed into his face and as he was bent over, he could smell vodka and saw the smashed glass on the floor.
“He was shocked and…thought he heard the defendant laughing and then a ‘whoop’ sound as if in celebration at what he had just done.”
Fletcher walked off into the Clarence Street car park where he sat on the ground with his “hands in the air”.
Police arrived shortly afterwards and the victim, who was in shock, pointed Fletcher out to them.
Lucky he wasn’t blinded
Fletcher was duly arrested and the victim, who was concussed and distressed, was taken to hospital where he had sutures applied to two cuts to the side of his face which left scars.
Fletcher was taken into custody where he ripped up a pillow inside a cell and pulled all the foam out of it. He also damaged a mattress.
He was charged with wounding, carrying an offensive weapon and criminal damage. He admitted the offences and appeared for sentence on Friday, 19 July, after being remanded in custody.
Ms Clarke said that Fletcher, of Dodsworth Avenue, York, launched the mindless attack just after midday on 26 January, a “bright, Friday afternoon”.
He had previous convictions for 18 offences including carrying an offensive weapon at York Hospital, namely a sharply pointed piece of plastic which he fashioned into a knife. His rap sheet also included damaging property and assaulting emergency workers.
At the time of the stranger attack in York, he was on a suspended prison sentence for assaulting a woman in the street.
Neil Cutte, Fletcher’s solicitor advocate, said his client’s behaviour had been “very erratic indeed” and that at the time of the attack in York he was “probably suffering from schizophrenia or some other form of psychosis” due to “heavy” cannabis use and a long-standing drug habit.
He said that Fletcher didn’t remember much of the incident as he had been drinking and smoking a lot of cannabis and was in such a state at the time that he thought he had acted in self-defence.
Judge Simon Hickey told Fletcher: “The victim was completely unknown to you and simply walking in the street. There was a large swing of your arm, hitting him with the glass bottle.
“The impact was just above the left eye. Fortunately, he wasn’t blinded.”
Mr Hickey said that “the mind-bending cannabis that people are smoking these days probably pushed you over the edge”.
He cited the psychoactive dangers of potent forms of cannabis, particularly skunk marijuana. Jailing Fletcher for 12 months, he said the York man was “clearly a danger to the public”.