[A] RUGBY player and junior coach who attacked a man in a Cumbrian town centre has been spared immediate prison.
Lewis McCarron, 24, initially helped stranger Scott Moffat to his feet in Whitehaven’s Tangier Street after he had been pushed by someone else into the road as a car passed by.
But Carlisle Crown Court heard McCarron then felled Mr Moffat with a “gratuitous punch”, and struck him again as he lay grounded.
Mr Moffat suffered a fractured right cheekbone in the “unprovoked” attack and later underwent surgery. McCarron admitted an actual bodily harm assault, on March 19 last year, on the basis that it couldn’t be proven he was responsible for the injury.
The victim didn’t attend hospital for two weeks, the court heard, and may have been hit by the vehicle on the night.
McCarron was described as a rugby player for 15 years at a club where he also coached juniors. He had shown “remorse” for a crime he considered “embarrassing” because he wanted to be a “good example to young people”
Judge James Adkin suspended an 11-month jail term for two years. McCarron must observe a three-month night-time weekend curfew, complete 100 hours’ unpaid work, pay £750 compensation and £500 costs.