A FATHER and son who attacked a man in a village near Selby have been handed jail sentences.

Joe Davies, 23, was imprisoned for nine months for assault causing actual bodily harm, after he punched and kicked Alan Bottomley in the head outside the New Inn pub in Barlby.

His father, John, who encouraged his son to fight, was given a six-month sentence, suspended for two years, and ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work.

The court heard Joe Davies, of Clifton, York, had been involved in an altercation in the nearby Bay Horse pub, after Mr Bottomley made a remark about the death of one of Davies’ friends.

Mr Bottomley was asked to leave the pub shortly after and went to the New Inn, where Davies’ father John, of Springfield Drive, Selby, later arrived and confronted Mr Bottomley about the incident.

The court heard when Joe Davies arrived, his father confronted Mr Bottomley, taking his glass from his hand, before his son punched him repeatedly and knocked him to the ground.

The court heard the 53-year-old father told his son “come on now, he’s had enough”, but Joe Davies kicked Mr Bottomley in the head while he lay on the ground, with witnesses claiming the noise was “sickening”, and they were afraid the blow had killed him.

Joe Davies pleaded guilty to assault causing ABH at an earlier hearing, while his father admitted affray.

Katherine Robinson, for John Davies, said her client knew encouraging his son to fight “was a very unpleasant incident and one that Mr Davies realises shouldn’t have got involved in at all.”

For Joe Davies, Nicholas Barker said his client was a “hard working and diligent young man”, adding: “This was a departure from a well-lived life to a behaviour that was quite extreme for him.”