A YOUNG man has been sent to jail for breaking the cheekbone of his prospective father-in-law.
The prison term came two years after the violent drunken attack.
Lee Fail, 23, of Lindrick, Marton, was originally given a suspended jail sentence for the attack on Adrian Cook - the father of his girlfriend Catherine - which took place on May 17, 2006.
But Fail was hauled back before Teesside Crown Court after completing only 23 of 150 hours of community service he had been ordered to undertake.
The court heard Fail had told various stories as to why he could not complete the work, leading to Judge Guy Whitburn QC describing him as a “Walter Mitty� character.
Fail told the Probation Service he had not been able to complete his community work as he had been given employment at the Ship Inn pub in Eston.
But the letter he provided from the landlord was found to have been forged.
Prosecutor Ian West said: “His mistake, or one of them, was to put a telephone number in the letter. The probation officer, Ms Hodgson, who is clearly not daft, rang the number but could not get through.
“She found the real phone number for the Ship Inn and the landlord told her he had never written that letter.�
Mr West said Fail had worked at the pub but had left the job three months before the forged letter was written.
Nigel Soppitt, defending, said: “It seems he has wasted what has been a golden opportunity.�
Mr Soppitt said his client and Mr Cook’s daughter Catherine now had a child together and had put the incident behind them.
Fail pleaded guilty to grievous bodily harm, perverting the course of justice and breach of a community order.
Judge Whitburn jailed Fail for 15 months and said: “The fact of the matter is you have completed some 23 hours of the community service work requirement.
“You made minimal attempt to comply with the order and then you committed that very serious offence of forging a letter.
“These are extremely serious matters.�
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