Man Jailed After Punching a 15-Year-Old Schoolboy

A Barnstaple man has been jailed for nine months following an attack on a 15-year-old boy.

Exeter Crown Court heard that Mark Angell lashed out at the boy in an unprovoked attack last August, after receiving a call from his daughter claiming she was hiding in a shop after being harassed by a group of youths.

By the time the protective father arrived on the scene, the group had moved on, causing Mr Angell to turn his attention to the innocent passer-by.

Mr Angell denied causing actual bodily harm, but was found guilty by magistrates in North Devon. The case was then referred to the Crown Court for sentence.

The defence at Exeter Crown Court claimed he acted out of misguided loyalty towards his daughter rather than ill-will. However, prosecutor Janice Eagles claimed that the age-gap between the defendant and the victim made the case more serious.

Mr Angell claimed to have acted in self-defence, but Judge Francis Gilbert, QC, dismissed such claims on the grounds of the defendant’s previous record of violence, which includes three previous battery offences and one of threatening behaviour.