Barrow man assaulted by former business partner slams sentence

Sean Kell said he thought brother-in-law Paul Russell should have been jailed after the victim had his head smashed on a defibrillator in an incident in Barrow.

The 40-year-old needed stitches after the assault outside a row of shops and said he initially feared losing his eye.

Mr Kell, who previously worked with Russell at businesses including the Wet Room bathrooms shop, described the assault as a 'premeditated attack'.

Russell was sentenced last week to 20 weeks behind bars after previously admitting causing actual bodily harm.

But a judge suspended the prison time for 18 months.

Reacting to the sentence, Mr Kell described it as 'absolutely shocking' and said he feared Russell could go on to harm others at the end of his suspended sentence.

(Image: Sean Kell)

He said: "He laid on that it will have a detrimental effect on his business.

"He should've thought about before he did it."

A court previously heard that Mr Kell had come into contact with Russell on March 27 shortly after dropping off his daughter at school.

He said Russell followed him before attacking him outside the row of shops in Lesh Lane by smashing his head on a defibrillator. 

At South Cumbria Magistrates' Court, Russell offered a basis of plea claiming he had recklessly pushed Mr Kell's head towards the life-saving device but this was not accepted by the prosecutor.

Prosecutor Lee Dacre said Mr Kell was left with a 'significant' wound on his head as a result of the assault and had to attend hospital.

Mr Kell said he and his former business partner had had a falling out around four years ago and had not seen him for 18 months before the day of the incident.

He described the attack as having come 'out of the blue'.

He said his face was left a 'mess' after the assault, with pictures showing bleeding from above his eye.

Mr Kell said he could not see out of his eye after the incident and had to make his own way to hospital.