A BUSINESS owner has escaped an immediate custodial sentence after assaulting his brother-in-law and former business partner in an incident outside a shop in Barrow.

Paul Russell was sentenced at South Cumbria Magistrates’ Court on October 2 after previously pleading guilty at an earlier hearing to assault occasioning actual bodily harm (section 47).

Prosecuting the case at the plea hearing on August 8, Lee Dacre said Russell caused a ‘significant’ wound to Sean Kell after he recklessly pushed him over outside a shop on Lesh Lane in Barrow on March 27 this year.

On that occasion, the court heard the pair were previously business partners, including at The Wet Room bathroom shop, before a falling out.

READ MORE: Bathrooms boss left former business partner with 'significant' wound after assault

The court was told the pair bumped into each other on the day of the incident when Russell was dropping his daughter off at school in the morning.

Mr Kell was said to have been pointing and laughing at the defendant, so as a result followed the complainant to a shop in Lesh Lane.

(Image: Shops in Barrow's Lesh Lane. Credit: Newsquest)
The prosecution told the court Russell waited for Mr Kell to come out of the shop before attempting to land punches on the complainant.

The court heard Russell then pushed Mr Kell to the floor, which caused him to fall and hit his head on a defibrillator.

Mr Dacre said the the complainant was forced to attend hospital as a result of a ‘significant’ wound to his head.

Russell told the court at the first hearing that he and Mr Kell had been business partners between 2014 and 2021 until it became 'necessary' to split up the business and part ways.

He said he had followed Mr Kell after the meeting outside the school to confront him about his behaviour and did not set out to hurt him but accepted he had recklessly pushed over his former colleague and was responsible for causing the injury.

In mitigation, Trystan Roberts said his client felt shame and remorse over the incident. 

The court heard on October 2 that Russell, of Strathmore Avenue on Walney, had been a man of previous good character for 25 years.

He was sentenced to a 20-week sentence suspended for 18 months with one  requirement of completing 250 hours of unpaid work.

Magistrates suspended the sentence due to there being ‘strong personal mitigation’ and immediate custody having a ‘significant detrimental impact’ on others – including the defendant’s employees and his dependent children.

They also ordered Russell to pay £300 in compensation to Mr Kell, £85 in court costs and a £154 surcharge.

A restraining order preventing the defendant from approaching or contacting the complainant directly or indirectly was also made by magistrates for a period of 18 months.