Hartlepool man used CS spray because 'he tried to gas me first'

Kieran Lewis, 35, from Hartlepool, had 52 convictions for 124 offences including violence.

The incident was filmed on council CCTV at 9.25PM on March 18 in the area of the town’s Victoria Road and York Road, Teesside Crown Court was told.

An exchange of words between victim and Lewis’s party of friends led to a confrontation.

Prosecutor Paul Newcombe said that the other man made a gesture or threw something at Lewis.

The court heard that Lewis took what must have been the CS canister and directed its spray at the upper part of the man’s body.

Mr Newcombe said that police were called to the scene and they found the canister in Lewis’s pocket.

The victim had heavily swollen eyes, a swollen face and minor burns to his face.

Lewis told officers: “He tried to gas me first.”

Kelly Sherif, defending, said that it was entirely out of character for him and he was trying to put his previous life behind him in a stable relationship.

The judge said that the prosecution had been unable to contest Lewis’s claim that he took the CS canister from the victim.

Recorder David Gordon said that Lewis had a long list of previous convictions and the latest ones were committed while serving a community order for assaulting an emergency worker.

Lewis, of Tankerville Street, was jailed for six months after admitting an affray and possessing a prohibited weapon.

The CS canister was forfeited and will be destroyed

Read more: The latest Hartlepool criminals to be locked up by the courts