Ben Kelly has been permanently barred from the boozer

19:41, 28 May 2025Updated 19:51, 28 May 2025

Ben Kelly(Image: GMP)

A drunk thug launched a pint pot at a pregnant barmaid in Wetherspoons after being told he would not be served.

Ben Kelly, 33, has been locked up following the ‘disgusting’ attack at the Up Steps Inn pub in Oldham town centre. The woman, who was four weeks pregnant, was left with a ‘large lump’ on her cheek.

Kelly armed himself with a pint glass after being told he would not be served. Minshull Street Crown Court heard he had been in the pub earlier that day – January 22 – and had been asked to leave. He returned to collect a bag he had left behind.

When staff refused to serve him, Kelly started ‘shouting and swearing’. He then picked up a pint pot from the bar and threw it, hitting a barmaid in the face.

She recalled feeling a ‘sharp pain’ to the right side of her face, and that it felt like she’d been punched. She then saw the pint glass, after it had smashed on the floor.

The incident left her with a ‘large lump’ on her cheek. The judge said Kelly could have ‘scarred her for life’.

“You are incredibly lucky you didn’t, because you would have bared the consequences for that,” Recorder Fiona Clancy said. “This was a disgusting and unwarranted offence.

“She tried her hardest not to cry and had a panic attack due to what happened. That was serious, in her position.”

In a victim impact statement read to the court, the barmaid said: “I was four weeks pregnant and was extremely worried about the baby. I am nervous to return to work as I don’t want to have to deal with something like this again.

“No-one should be subjected to this type of abuse.”

Kelly was recognised from footage as a regular in the pub, from which he has now been permanently barred. He was not arrested until March 6.

During an interview with police, Kelly said he’d had a ‘tantrum’. Defending, Olivia Gatfield said the incident was ‘impulsive’ and ‘short lived’. She said Kelly’s strongest mitigation was the fact that he had pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity.

She had appealed for the judge to take an ‘exceptional course’ and avoid sending him to prison, arguing that alcohol abuse was the root cause of his offending.

But the judge noted his poor record, after wracking up 41 previous offences. He was also subject to a suspended sentence at the time of the pub incident. “I accept you have anger issues and you struggle with your emotions,” the judge said.

Kelly, of Spring Street, Oldham, pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm. He was sentenced to a total of 12-and-a-half months in prison, comprising eight-and-a-half months for the pub attack and another four months for breaching the suspended sentence by committing another offence.