Andrew Lee trial - what the Judge said (From Daily Echo)

Andrew Lee trial - what the Judge said

10:17am Saturday 18th July 2009 in

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ANDREW Lee was on bail when he put John Jones into a full nelson hold – against advice in his own book of guidelines that it could cause serious injury or even death.

Judge Derwin Hope said Lee’s actions were unlawful, malicious and premeditated and the outcome could barely have been more serious.

He told Lee: “You chose this as a method to use on him. You grabbed him from behind, ignoring pleas that he had not done anything wrong, and sought to take him from the club in this manner.”

The court heard how other doormen no longer use the full nelson restraint because they know the dangers.

Judge Hope described how Lee used an “extremely high degree of recklessness”

adding that he had “shown a real serious disregard for the safety of those youngsters in the club that you were entrusted to keep safe from harm”.

He added that Lee, from Alcantara Crescent, Southampton, clearly took enjoyment from violence as he referred to gratuitous footage on Lee’s website – entitled Fun on the Door – in which he is seen to be slapping a woman and restraining a man aggressively (right).

Jailing him for four years, Judge Hope said he took into account Lee’s recent expression of remorse – but commented on how he had failed to show any sign of that during the trial last month. He had also acknowledged a bundle of references, put forward in Lee’s mitigation.

He said: “The injuries caused to John Jones could hardly have been more serious.

He has been made a permanent paraplegic by your actions.

“The lives of his family and all of those who know him have been devastated. The harm caused that will be with him for the rest of his life is of the highest category, psychologically as well as physically.”