Mayhem in The Falcon, Theale, as Wayne Voice takes on drunken Michael Iles

A DRUNKEN man who taunted and threatened pub customers ended up getting savagely beaten.

Reading Crown Court heard how Michael Iles had been relentlessly goading a group of drinkers, eventually picking up a glass and threatening to smash it into another man’s face.

But things went quickly downhill for him from there, the court was told.

One of the targets of his threats, 61-year-old Wayne Voice, snapped.

As Mr Iles menaced his friend with the glass, Mr Voice hurled him to the floor and rained blows on him, fracturing his nose and eye socket.

The mayhem happened at The Falcon pub in Theale High Street on November 1 last year.

Voice, of St Leonard Court, off James Butcher Drive, Theale, admitted assaulting Michael Iles, thereby causing him actual bodily harm.

Gabrielle Watts, defending, said it was a case of self defence taken too far.

She said: “Mr Iles is a man known in the area for his behaviour.

“He is certainly known to these courts.

“Mr Voice’s concern was that his friend, Derek, was about to be glassed that day.”

Publican Kieran Knight said in a witness statement: “Mr Iles was slurring his words; he couldn’t even stand properly.

“I suspected he was intoxicated by other substances and I refused to serve him.

“He began swearing and being aggressive to others in the pub, trying to wind people up.

“He made continuous threats to one group, saying to one of them: ‘I want to smash your f****** face with a glass,’ shouting loudly and angrily.

“I made it very clear that he must leave or I would call the police.”

Mr Iles refused to leave and Mr Knight added: “I saw him pick up a glass and hide it behind himself to use.

“Without provocation I saw him raise the glass; he was shouting: ‘I’ve been to prison before, I don’t care; I’ll go back again.’”

Fearing his friend Derek was about to be glassed in the face, the court heard, Mr Voice intervened, putting Mr Iles on the floor and raining blows on him.

Mr Watts pleaded with Judge Rachel Drake not to send her client, a father-of-three, to prison, describing the railway worker as a man of good character.

Judge Drake told Voice: “You clearly over reacted.

“You took matters into your own hands, dragging Mr Iles to the floor.

“You then continued to assault him, punching him a number of times to the head, kicking and stamping on him.

“You fractured his nose and eye socket and caused a haematoma as a consequence.

“And, but for the intervention of Mr Knight and others you would have taken a pool cue to a man on the ground.”

Nevertheless, she added, the offence was out of character and Voice had expressed genuine remorse for his actions that day – factors which narrowly allowed the court to avoid imposing a custodial sentence.

Instead, Voice was made subject to a 12 month community order and required to complete 80 hours of unpaid community work.

In addition he was ordered to pay £420 costs plus a statutory victim services surcharge of £114.

The prosecution had invited the court to award compensation to Mr Iles but Judge Drake said she would decline, “particularly when I consider Mr Iles’ conduct on that occasion”.