Anthony Hayes was caught on camera in the middle of the Birkenhead nightclub brawl
Anthony Hayes, of Bentinck Place, Birkenhead(Image: Merseyside Police)
A “well known figure in the Birkenhead area” punched and kneed another man in a nightclub. Anthony Hayes, 31, was involved in a drunken brawl in which he attacked the other man, grabbing hold of him and striking him to the head several times.
The incident occurred at The Cool Room on Conway Street, Birkenhead, on August 24 this year. CCTV taken from the club at around 2.15am showed multiple people, some wearing high-visibility jackets, scuffling on the dancefloor in an apparent free-for-all.
Hayes, of Bentinck Place, Birkenhead, was captured on camera in the middle of the brawl, in which he punched another man and kneed him several times. Described as “a well-known figure in the Birkenhead area”, he was identified by the footage and arrested.
He pleaded guilty to affray and appeared at Liverpool Crown Court today, October 3, for sentence. Prosecutor Georgiana Panteli said: “The defendant repeatedly struck the male on the head using his knee, which in my submission is quite serious. The incident was carried out in a very busy public area, and while the defendant was subject to a suspended sentence order.”
The court heard Hayes, who has eight previous convictions for 14 offences, had been given a 22 month prison sentence, suspended for two years, in March 2024 for drug dealing. The attack at The Cool Room meant he had breached the order, and he was remanded at HMP Liverpool.
Simon Christie, defending, said: “The defendant is entirely realistic. As for as the affray is concerned, I have seen the footage as has the defendant. A nasty incident in a public place, relatively short-lasting. There was an indication of a guilty plea before the magistrates.”
Regarding the suspended sentence, Mr Christie also said “significant concerns” were raised about the defendant’s “underlying compliance with the order” to rehabilitate him.
He added: “But he has completed 125 hours of unpaid work, which is a significant figure, and warrants the court making some modest adjustment to the imprisonment which will inevitably follow.”
Sentencing, Judge David Potter said: “Anthony Hayes, you have been convicted on your own plea of affray, which also placed you in breach of a crown court suspended sentence handed down in March 2024 for possession with intent to supply class B drugs.
“You became involved in a fight in a nightclub in August this year. It was a short-lived but violent incident inside licensed premises in which you were kneeing and punching another man to the head. I’m satisfied from all I have seen you were intoxicated. It clearly caused alarm and distress to the lawful customers in the nightclub.
“There are aggravating factors. You have previous convictions that include public disorder, and you have been to prison before for trafficking class A drugs. It was also committed during the currency of a crown court suspended sentence.”
He sentenced Hayes to 10 months in prison for affray, and activated the suspended sentence order made in 2024, with orders that this must be served consecutively. This brought the total sentence to 28 months in prison.