Suspended sentence for Angmering attacker

Simon Dyson was with two friends when he began talking to his victim, who was sitting with two of his friends on the steps outside Worthing Town Hall, at 2am on August 6.

But it began to turn ugly when one of the trio rummaged through the victim’s bag, and then tried to grab his glasses from his face. The victim was punched to the floor and then punched and kicked in the chest and head while unconscious.

Witnesses chased Dyson and his friends off, and called an ambulance. But before it arrived, Dyson, of Station Road, returned to the scene to retrieve his mobile phone which he had dropped in the melee. He also expressed concern at how the man was, but when challenged about his involvement in the attack he ran off again.

The court heard Dyson, 21, had been drinking heavily that night.

Sentencing Dyson at Chichester Crown Court on Monday, Judge William Wood, said: “You do feel bitterly ashamed and feel remorse because of this incident.

“As you probably know, our society will not tolerate people getting drunk and then committing this kind of offence.”

Dyson had pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to assault causing actual bodily harm. He was given a 26-week prison sentence suspended for 20 months, a six-month curfew order to stay at home from 8pm-6am each night, and must pay the victim £1,000.compensation.