Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More info. A prank where a joker squirted sauce over a garage customer led to two men being beaten on the ground. Three teenagers are behind bars today for a gang attack on one of the two victims, whose leg was broken in the assault.
The two men were buying drinks for a party at an Ormesby Bank garage when one of them had sauce thrown over him. When they pursued the culprit for an explanation, they were attacked in the Spencerbeck estate. Middlesbrough teenagers Ben Cope, then 16, Peri Mason, then 17, and a younger boy aged 15 at the time, who cannot be named for legal reasons, all assaulted one of the men.
He said he was knocked to the ground and attacked by four to five people, punched and kicked all over his body and his leg stamped on. The victim, a home care assistant, had his leg in a cast for nine weeks and underwent physiotherapy to learn how to walk again. Mason, now 19, of Millfield Road, North Ormesby, and the now year-old all pleaded guilty to inflicting grievous bodily harm on this man.
Cope, now 18, of Woodbank Road, Ormesby, denied the charge and was convicted by a jury after a trial where he claimed self defence. The second man - the victim of the sauce prank - was also attacked on the night of August 17 to 18 last year. He was punched hard in the face and repeatedly struck on the ground despite his protestations to stop. Defence barristers said the teenagers had learnt their lesson and would never darken the doors of the dock again. Family members supported him and gave him references.
She said the committed sportsman did not set out to hurt anyone but a prank escalated out of all control. Andrew White, for Mason, said he was not violent, acted totally out of character, bitterly regretted it and apologised for his foolish first crime. Get the latest Teesside Live breaking news on WhatsApp. Join us on WhatsApp.
