Thug blinded Hartlepool pub landlord and robbed cerebral palsy victim

A thug who blinded a Hartlepool pub landlord and then went on to rob a cerebral palsy victim of his car has been jailed for six years.
Dean JenkinsDean Jenkins
Dean Jenkins

Richard Hanlon, the landlord of the Park Hotel on Park Road, was left blind in his right eye after drunk Dean Jenkins,33, gouged his eyeball with his thumb

Three years later Mr Hanlon told Teesside Crown Court that his life had been ruined by the attack on 13 March 2016

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He can now work only short hours in the pub, which he has run since 2008, and he has had to move his family out because they were too nervous to stay

Mr Hanlon said that he had lost all confidence and was scared of strangers, and he could not longer play golf and pool

Jenkins, who appeared over a videolink from Holme House Prison, Stockton, told the judge:”I am totally shocked

”I am really shocked and sorry and I would like to say that to the victim.”

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Prosecutor Paul Rooney said that Jenkins was drunk and abusive when he arrived at The Park at 7pm.

He shouted that he was going to play pool, despite other people who were waiting their turn on the table. The landlord decided that he was drunk and he tried to take his glass away from him but Jenkins flung the contents into his face

Jenkins then put his glass on the pool table, and when Mr Hanlon went to remove it Jenkins grappled with him and they fell to the floor. Jenkins pushed his thumb into Mr Hanlon’s eye, and other people pulled him off and he was ejected

Mr Hanlon was taken to James Cook University Hospital, Middlesbrough, where he later had two major operations but they failed to save his sight

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Jenkins was on bail when he targeted a cerebral palsy victim Mitchell Wilson on April 17 this year and he stole his Volvo car

Mr Wilson was in a friend’s shop in Hartlepool when Jenkins arrived on his bike and he shouted for him to go outside because he wanted his car

Mr Wilson was worried about his car and he began to move it, but Jenkins rode his bike into it and then he snatched the keys from the ignition

When Mr Wilson fled into the shop fearing for his safety Jenkins drove off in the car. Later that evening Jenkins contacted him on Facebook telling him that if he did not hand over the logbook his windows would be smashed

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Jenkins had 71 convictions for 120 offences including violence and assaulting a police officer

The Recorder of Middlesbrough Judge Simon Bourne-Arton QC told him: “The fact that you have committed offences under the influence of drink and drugs is an aggravating feature

”The landlord deserves protection from people like you.

“Coward that you are you put your thumb into his eye and he lost his eye. Life for him seems to have completely changed.”

Jenkins of Homer Grove, Hartlepool, was jailed for six years after he pleaded guilty to inflicting grievous bodily harm, robbery and theft