Trio ‘terrorised’ man in Patten Arms Hotel by attacking him

Callum Higgins, Joshua Bednarek and Jordan Foster refused to let the victim leave and threatened to put him in the boot of their car.

It was only when one of the brutes assaulted a lone woman after making vile remarks to her that their horrific actions were revealed.

Having originally been charged with false imprisonment, all later admitted charges of inflicting grievous bodily harm and theft from a person – only on the day of their trial.

It was said that the victim needed to be summonsed to court through an arrest warrant, such was the fear he was in following his awful ordeal.

They were sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court on Monday, with Foster also admitting a charge of assault against the woman in the street.

All of the offences occurred in Warrington town centre on March 16 this year, explained Christopher Hopkins, prosecuting.

The victim was on a Saturday night out with a friend and came across the three defendants, who are of west Yorkshire, with the quintet drinking together in PJs bar on Bridge Street.

After trying and failing to gain entry to other premises, they returned to Patten Arms Hotel on Parker Street, where the defendants were staying while working in the area, for ‘more drink, drugs or both’.

The complainant’s friend left, but the victim remained, having earlier consumed vodka and lemonade and ‘sniff’, which the court explained to be ‘lines of cocaine’, bought by the defendants.

“It was then when it all happened. It was awful,” Mr Hopkins told the court, referencing the words used by the complainant.

The victim said he was ‘terrorised’ by all three defendants for the next three hours, who were ‘all in it together’, the crown said.

One of the group got the complainant into a headlock and choked him, after which they began to slap, punch and kick him.

Jordan Foster and Joshua Bednarek have been jailed

It was heard that the attack was so severe that the victim contemplated jumping out of a window to escape.

The trio claimed that he owed them £300 for drinks and drugs they bought him during the night out and asked him how he would repay them.

When he claimed he had no money to pay them, they resumed the attack, hitting him in his ribs with a shoe and ignoring his pleas for them to let him leave.

They took his mobile phone off him and told him to remove his jeans, punching him again when he refused, with the court hearing how the victim felt his right eye ‘burst’.

It was also said that they used ‘something sharp’ to cut him while two tried to remove his pants, after which one of the group, who was wearing shorts and no t-shirt, dragged him into the bathroom.

“If you are not giving money, you are going to have to do something else,” he told the victim, who by now began to fear that he was going to be raped.

In an appeal to prevent this from happening, he told them they could have his phone and his jumper, which the court heard was a ‘special make’.

The attackers began packing their bags to leave the following morning and discussed what they would do with the victim.

One suggested they could put him in the boot of their car, with the complainant promising not to say anything if they just let him go.

Instead, they decided to go out again and for the victim to remain with them, but with his head covered so no one could see his facial injuries.

It was heard that the victim was looking for an opportunity to escape when the group encountered a lone woman walking down a street in the town centre.

One of the three defendants, Foster, was said to have made crude comments to her, including asking ‘how much she costs’ and ‘how much for a blowie’.

She remonstrated and said something back, leading to an argument in the street and Foster ‘sparking her and knocking her to the gutter’, it was said.

The incident occurred at Patten Arms Hotel on Parker Street. Picture: Google Maps

Foster interrupted from the dock that it was a slap rather than a punch, and after reviewing CCTV, the judge commented that it was a ‘hard blow knocking her to the floor’.

The female victim reported the incident to the police, who located the defendants after they made attempts to flee the area.

Having visited Warrington Hospital, the victim underwent a CT scan and was found to have a fractured eye socket, among other injuries.

In an impact statement, he said that the incident has ‘changed his life drastically’, that he struggles to sleep and has PTSD symptoms.

He said he cannot walk down the street by himself anymore without watching his back, isolates himself and tries not to leave home.

“I am extremely anxious, scared and very depressed. My confidence has deteriorated. I used to be energetic and lively, but I am now quiet and have a low self-esteem. This will affect me for the rest of my life,” it was said.

Mr Hopkins revealed that Foster is 31 years of age and has 19 previous convictions for 30 offences, including eight for violent offences.

Bednarek, aged 28, meanwhile was said to have 15 previous convictions for 23 offences, of which five are for violence.

The court heard that 22-year-old Higgins has no previous convictions on his record.

Mr Hopkins added that the assault was ‘prolonged and persistent’ and caused ‘grave’ injury, with the extra aggravating factor of ‘sexual threat and indignity’.

Defending Foster, Safaraz Ahad highlighted that his client’s best mitigation was his guilty pleas and said that the trio were in Warrington for PVC cleaning work.

“He fully accepts wrongdoing. He wishes to apologise through me to the court and the victim for his behaviour,” he said.

The court heard that his partner is due to give birth next month, which he will miss and will have to live with for the rest of his life, and that he wants to undergo drug and alcohol rehabilitation in prison.

The sentencing hearing was at Liverpool Crown Court

Abdul Shakoor, defending Bednarek, said that his last previous conviction for violence was some 12 years ago, that work is available to him on his release from custody, and that he has a job as a cleaner in prison.

He also mitigated for Higgins, whom he said lives a ‘normally law-abiding lifestyle’ as a breadwinner, providing for his pregnant partner and their two-year-old son.

“He recognises he is staring down the barrel of custody, appearing before the crown court for the first time. I seek to persuade your honour that you could consider a suspended sentence,” he said.

Mr Shakoor said that the lives of his partner and children would be ‘extremely difficult and significantly impacted’ by his immediate incarceration, and that Higgins is a ‘realistic prospect for rehabilitation’.

Before sentencing, judge Stuart Driver said: “The offence of inflicting grievous bodily harm is aggravated by the use of a weapon equivalent in a shoe and sharp object, and it was a group attack, three on one.

“Additionally is the indignity and threat of sexual assault and theft from the same victim. The victim thought he would be raped and be subjected to other sexual offences,” it was said, with the poor criminal records of both Foster and Bednarek going against them also.

Foster, of Livingstone Road in Bradford, was sentenced to 35 months in prison, while the prison term for Bednarek, of no fixed abode, is 32 months – both to be served immediately.

However, Higgins, of Cross Lane in Leeds, was handed two years in jail suspended for 18 months, as well as 140 hours of unpaid work and 25 rehabilitation activity requirement days.

This was due to his personal mitigation, immature age compared to his co-defendants, previous good character, rehabilitation prospects and the impact on his young family.

Judge Driver added: “In this case, I am giving a young man a chance, but let me make clear, you have escaped prison by the skin of your teeth.

“If you put any wrong foot on the line and breach, if you commit other offences or do not do what probation tells you, you will be brought back to court.

“If I see you again for any reason, you are going straight down the stairs to prison.”