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| Nine Years: McNulty |
A lifelong trades unionist is starting a nine-year prison sentence today for leading a group “revenge attack” against a Jewish Tory barrister after a Palestine pub row.
GMB activist and former school caretaker Dennis McNulty, 60, shattered the nose of lawyer Tim Ludbrook, 63, and tore the retina in his eye after the argument in the King William IV pub, Hampstead High Street on August 3, 2018.
Today at Isleworth Crown Court the father-of-three, who has been fighting to keep his valuable grace-and-favour house next to the school with the help of the GMB, was convicted by a jury of inflicting grievous bodily harm, with intent.
Lincoln’s Inn intellectual property rights specialist Mr Ludbrook was knocked unconscious as he sat outside in the early hours in Heath Street.
“My nose was broken in two places and I was very lucky not to lose the sight in one eye,” he told the trial. “I will forever see him in that moment for the rest of my life. It is as clear as day, seared on my memory.
“There he was, bearing down at me and moments later he was striking me around the head from both sides and I don’t recall anything else until I came around.”
The court heard he suffered heavy bruising and swelling to his head and face, lingering pain, headaches and dizziness, plus lifelong cranial nerve damage, which causes sudden burning-like shooting pains to his face.
“Before this incident you were properly regarded as a man of not only good character, but a character that benefited a large number of individuals and a dedication in your life to help others via the union,” Judge John Dennis told McNulty.
“Something happened that night to cause you to lose your temper quite badly.
“After being thrown out of the pub you got the assistance of your sons and another person and went on a revenge attack that resulted in very serious injuries to Mr Ludbrook.
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| Timothy Ludbrook |
“He suffered a severely fractured nose and a torn retina that needed emergency surgery to save the eye.”
Witnesses described either an umbrella or baseball bat being used by the group, but nobody else has been prosecuted and McNulty’s sons, Ross, 28 and Connor, 25, did not give evidence.
The victim and defendant were loosely associated socially, with McNulty, of nearby New End School House, Streatley Place, Hampstead also known as a local artist and Mr Ludbrook a regular at live music nights at the pub.
There was a heated exchange over the Gaza strip and Israel’s treatment of Palestinians, with McNulty’s temper rising when the barrister revealed he was Jewish.
“He was introduced to me as an ardent member of the Labour Party and I am well-known for being on the other side of the political spectrum,” said Mr Ludbrook.
“He told me he was a senior official in a trades union and I told him if I went on one of his marches then he would have to come on one of mine for Jacob Rees-Mogg.”
Somebody in Mr Ludbrook’s group brought up the subject of the Gaza Strip and McNulty began criticising Israel, the lawyer told the court.
“He was swearing about the Tory government and intended to try and inflame the situation with his language and said: ‘You can’t support those f***ing c****.’
“He must have thought I was supporting them because I am a Conservative and I told him: ‘Yes, I am Jewish and a supporter of Israel.’
“It was like lighting a blue touch paper and he said: ‘It’s always you f***ing people, you’re always the problem.’
“He said he was going to show what kind of f***ing person I was on social media and started recording with his phone.
“The really aggressive stuff started when he goaded me into revealing my ethnicity. He’s obviously got some view about jews.
“It was not a sensible thing I said to him about being a ‘Hamas-loving bastard’, but I had enough.
“I lunged toward him, I lost my temper, I suppose I wanted to grab him by the throat, but someone else came in between us.
“He said: ‘You’re f***ing dead, I’m going to have you,’ and the pub staff removed him.”
The lawyer admitted lunging at McNulty inside the pub. “He knew he got me, a Tory barrister to react badly. He enjoyed that, but it is intolerable to have this racially-charged behaviour inflicted upon you.
“On that occasion I let it get the better of me.”
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| "Revenge": McNulty |
Recalling the blows Mr Ludbrook told the court: “I can remember counting them and by six I was out. I was lying on the pavement and a woman was trying to stop the bleeding.”
The lawyer concedes calling McNulty a: “Hamas-loving bastard,” inside the pub, but insists this was after an evening of intimidation by the defendant.
McNulty always denied hitting the complainant over three separate trials and claims Mr Ludbrook would sarcastically greet him with: “Power to the people,” but the lawyer denied this.
He also denied McNulty’s claim he said: “We need to get rid of the Palestinians. I want gas chambers built to get rid of them all.”
“I wouldn’t say that, even joking,” insisted the barrister. “That’s genocide.”
Prosecutor Margia Mostafa told the jury Mr Ludbrook was taken to the Royal Free Hospital at 2.15 am and treated for a fractured nose, plus later laser treatment on his eye.
In the pub McNulty had goaded the victim she said, asking: “Are you jewish? You’re jewish aren’t you?
“I’m going to f*** you up you c***. You’re Israeli.”
Judge Dennis told McNulty: “During the discussion in the pub you became quite irate on the subject of Hamas and Mr Ludbrook being Jewish.
“You were effected and by what was said and your goading of Mr Ludbrook was sufficient for him to lose his temper and he jumped up and had to be restrained and you had to be restrained.
“There was a religious background to this and you were provoked.”
An earlier trial cleared McNulty of a charge of religiously-aggravated threatening behaviour.
“On a the positive side I treat you as a man of good character and you come to the court as a relatively elderly defendant, who can say they have spent most of their life out of trouble,” added the judge.
“I put in your favour your record of good public works as a school keeper and forty years of work in the union, helping the weak and vulnerable.”
McNulty’s lawyer James Partridge told the court he also has a daughter Michelle, 39, and began his trades union activity when employed as a printer, fighting the move from Fleet Street to Wapping in the 1980’s.
He has assisted people with claims against their employers based on sex and racial discrimination. “He says he has been standing up to racism all his life,” said the lawyer.
McNulty will serve two-thirds of the sentence, six years, before he is considered for parole.
