Binge drinker Tobias Millard jailed for unprovoked attack on family man in Chepstow town centre

Tobias Millard launched a nasty assault on Richard Johnson as the pubs and clubs of Chepstow were emptying in the early hours of the morning.

Richard Ace, prosecuting, said the defendant launched the unprovoked attack on the family man who was making his way home with his partner and a friend.

The victim was left with two black eyes after Millard punched him twice to the face, knocking him to the ground just outside Chepstow police station.

Officers were quickly summoned and arrested Millard at the scene, Cardiff Crown Court was told.

The attack has had a “profound effect” on the victim who has moved away from the area as a result.

Millard, aged 28, of Brunel Road, Bulwark, Chepstow, pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm on September 1, last year.

Mr Ace said the defendant had previous convictions for possessing an offensive weapon and for breaching court orders.

Karl Williams, mitigating, said his client suffered from alcohol abuse and was hoping to leave his job and become a trawlerman.

His barrister told Judge Tracey Lloyd-Clarke that Millard sought work “not as a fisherman but running trips in the Irish Sea and the Atlantic”.

Mr Williams added: “All parties were in drink that night.”

The judge said: “The defendant thought the victim was a drug dealer called Chucky who had offended one of his friends.”

She told Millard he had a problem with binge drinking on weekends which is when this offence had happened.

Judge Lloyd-Clarke said she was also concerned by his remarks to the Probation Service officer as part of his pre-sentence report and that the ordeal had a “profound effect on the victim”.

She told the court: “You said this had been blown out of all proportion. You told the probation officer, ‘They probably loved the drama.’”

Millard was jailed for five months and told he must pay a victim surcharge upon his release from custody.