Boozy Christmas Party Back Garden Bash

An engineer, who viciously beat a colleague at a works Christmas party, leaving the victim with a collapsed lung, dodged jailed with a suspended sentence today.

Father-of-two John Garratt, 34, (pictured) of Juniper Lane, Flackwell Heath, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, admitted the alcohol-fuelled attack and must now attend anger-management classes.

He pleaded guilty at Croydon Crown Court to inflicting grievous bodily harm on Glenn Smith in the rear garden of an address in Round Grove, Shirley on December 10, last year.

“This was an unpleasant, pretty thorough going over of Mr. Smith,” said Judge Ruth Downing, sentencing Garratt to 11 months imprisonment, suspended for eighteen months.

The court heard employees had gathered at the suburban home of one of the firm's bosses and during the evening the defendant, who had been drinking, challenged Mr. Smith to step into the garden.

The victim, who believes a dispute over pay may have been the issue that angered Garratt, was then subjected to an attack with fists and feet.

He sustained bruising all over his body and at one point felt he could not breathe, with doctors later confirming he suffered a collapsed lung as a result of blows to the body.

Garratt initially denied the offence, complaining he had also suffered injuries, but pleaded guilty after the judge indicated the sentence she would pass.

“It has caused him tremendous shame and embarrassment,” Garratt's lawyer Mr. Richard Storey told the court. “He has let himself, his family and his friends down. It is so out of character for him.

“Alcohol was linked to the behaviour, but it is not a problem and he has not had a drink since this incident or gone out socialising.”

Garratt was also ordered to perform 200 hours community serice work, obey a four-month night time curfew, attend an anger management course, pay £660 costs and £750 compensation to Mr. Smith.