Victim of pool cue attack could lose eye

A man who was smashed in the face with a pool cue in an unprovoked attack has been told he could lose an eye.

Luke Armstrong has been left traumatised as a result of the attack by Ryan Stanberry and is still receiving hospital treatment following the incident last month.

Stanberry (19), of Johnson Avenue, Spalding, appeared at Lincoln Crown Court when he admitted inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent to Mr Armstrong on March 7.

He also admitted causing actual bodily harm to Daniel King who he struck with the cue seconds before turning his attention to Mr Armstrong.

Stanberry was jailed for eight and a half years and was given an extended licence period which means he will be at risk of recall to prison until 2027.

The judge, passing sentence, told Stanberry: “Your victim is disfigured. You have destroyed this man’s life. He is still going to have to face surgery. He may lose the sight in one eye and has not worked since you attacked him.

“He is traumatised. His life will never be the same again. I have read your letter. I note that out of 70 or 80 lines of writing only three lines refer to the victim. The rest is talking about yourself. You are a self-centred, dangerous, violent young man.

“I find you a very, very worrying young man.”

Tony Stanford, prosecuting, said Mr Armstrong was having a quiet drink with Daniel King and Mr King’s cousin Simon when Stanberry suddenly walked up to them and swung a pool cue at Daniel King striking him on the back of the head.

Stanberry then swung the cue smashing it into Mr Armstrong. Mr King’s cousin punched Stanberry in the face and then other customers took the teenager to the floor and detained him until the police arrived.

Mr Stanford said: “Luke Armstrong was in the Black Swan with Daniel and Simon King. They had about three pints. It was a perfectly ordinary evening. They had no arguments with anybody.

“This was a completely unprovoked and completely cowardly attack. The victims were utterly defenceless.”

Stanberry, who was at the pub with his father, later told police he thought his father was about to be either threatened or attacked.

But the prosecutor said: “There was no contact at all between these two groups. It was totally unprovoked.”

The court was told that at the time of the incident Stanberry was the subject of a three-month suspended jail sentence for an assault and had previous convictions for violence.

Nick Bleaney, defending, said “It may be that he misread a non-existent situation. The consequences have been catastrophic.

“A number of lives including his own have been devastatingly altered as a result of this.

“He is genuinely sorry about what he has done. He recognises he has anger management issues to deal with.”