Attacker sentenced after pulling strangers out of car and beating them in violent assault in Bassetlaw

The victims had been visiting friends at an address in Sherwood Road, Harworth, on Saturday October 30, 2022.

After hearing a disturbance and loud argument coming from a nearby house, the two men and a teenager quickly made their way to their car.

As two of them climbed inside, the third, a 56-year-old man, was punched in the face and knocked to the ground, before he was kicked in the head and face.

Scott Houghton, aged 29, had been the man arguing with a woman at an address before making his way over to the unsuspecting victims.

He then opened the driver’s door, pulled the other victim, aged 34, out and punched him in the face causing cuts to his lips.

In sheer fear the teenager then ran away in an attempt to stop being hurt by Houghton’s blows.

Houghton then returned to the first victim who was lying on the floor and continued to kick him to the head and face before the man lost consciousness.

Appearing at Nottingham Crown Court on January 3, Houghton, of College Road, Doncaster, pleaded guilty to two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

He was given a 22-month jail sentence, suspended for 24 months. He was also ordered to complete 160 hours of unpaid work, to abide by an electronic curfew and pay £300 in compensation.

Detective Sergeant Jackie Price, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: “This was an attack on two complete strangers who were simply just trying to go home after enjoying their evening.

“This attack was completely out of the blue and left one of the victims with serious facial injuries including eight of his teeth being knocked out, more loose teeth, and cuts and bruises to his head.

“The other victim was also left with injuries to his face, but the mental impact of this vicious attack is far greater and this incident will no doubt have had a huge effect emotionally on both victims and the witness.

“No-one can go around behaving in this way and believe they can get away with it.”

She added: “We will never tolerate this kind of violent behaviour on our streets and will always do everything we can to find those responsible and put them before the courts as we have shown in this instance. Anyone who behaves in such a way should expect a knock on the door from officers.”