A granddad thinks he may have been spiked, causing him to lash out with a hammer when he thought someone had stolen his car keys.
Kyle Williams, 37, became aggressive at the Rose and Crown in Wallasey, Wirral, shortly before midnight on March 15.
When the landlady intervened, he continued to be so argumentative that two locals stepped in to help her.
Prosecutor Hannah Darling said Williams asked them ‘who are you threatening?’ before storming out.
He later returned with his 13-year-old son – who was armed with a knife – and smashed a window with a claw hammer before going back in and threatening other customers.
Williams shouted ‘no one threatens me’, causing some drinkers to leave the pub while several others intervened. As he was escorted out, he smashed a glass door panel.
When police knocked on his door later that day, he ran off through the back of his house but was found nearby and had to be tasered before being handcuffed.
Liverpool Crown Court heard he had 13 convictions for 28 offences.
Defending him, John Rowan said: ‘He has now been in custody for some 28 days. He is not a stranger to custody, but his last sentence of imprisonment was some 17 years ago. He has been in stable accommodation for some time and is in long-term employment, which is still open to him.
‘He is a father of three and he is a grandfather to one. He is a far cry from the 20-year-old who went to prison for drug and driving offences. The past few weeks have been sobering for him.
‘He has had time to reflect on how he behaved that night. He fully accepts that his behaviour was disgraceful. What happened that evening is something he cannot get his head around. That is not the man he perceived himself to be. While he has previous convictions, none of them are for violence.
“He maintains that he might have been spiked by an individual in the pub. He became paranoid. He became irrational. He believed that individuals had taken the keys to his car, which was parked outside.’
He added: ‘He wants it known how ashamed he is. He wants to apologise to each and every person who was affected by his actions.
‘He is particularly ashamed that his 13-year-old son became embroiled in this incident. It was a complete dereliction of his duties as a father.’
Recorder Richard Pratt, KC, told him: ‘On that night, no doubt fuelled by drink, you behaved outrageously. You were threatening and abusive to people who you thought, wrongly, had stolen your keys and, much worse, you returned having armed yourself with a hammer.
‘It is a significant aggravating feature that, at that time, you were accompanied by your 13-year-old son, who also had with him a knife. While you have previous convictions, it is clear to me that what happened on this night was outside of your normal character.’
Williams, who appeared via video link from HMP Liverpool, puffed out his cheeks, bowed his head and rubbed his eyes as he was handed a 14-month prison sentence suspended for two years.
Recorder Pratt added: ‘I strongly urge you to take this chance. I doubt very much that this chance will be offered to you again.’
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