Machete terror boxer launched crazed attack

AN AMATEUR boxer who ran amok with a machete on a pub car park after getting high on drink and drugs has been jailed.

Zack Hall (20) first violently assaulted his own girlfriend then turned on two people who tried to intervene.

The young woman was pinned against a wall in the car park of the Shay Wake pub on Milnrow Road, Shaw, then punched repeatedly as she pleaded with him.

Manchester Crown Court was told Hall, of Lewisham Close, Royton, chased one man with the machete then began hacking at his car, challenging anyone to “take him on” and threatening to kill anyone who tried. Labourer Hall then got into his own car and drove off despite being drunk.

The court heard that shortly before the incident on July 12, CCTV footage showed him lying naked on the bonnet of a car in the pub car park as friends tried to get him to cover up.

Sentencing him, Judge John Potter told him: “You behaved in a quite dreadful manner. This was a fearsome weapon. Anyone who causes that level of harm and fear richly deserves an immediate prison sentence.”

Hall who pleaded guilty to affray, two counts of possession of an offensive weapon, common assault, criminal damage and drink-driving, was jailed for 10 months and banned from driving for two years.

Jonathan Dickinson, prosecuting, said one of the victims, Joseph Gledhill, had returned to his car with friends and saw Hall acting aggressively towards his girlfriend as they sat in their car. She tried to open the door and jump out, but Hall pinned her against the wall.

Mr Gledhill and another witness shouted at him to stop and Hall turned his attention on them. £500 worth of damage was caused to the car before Hall drove off. He was arrested shortly afterwards at nearby shops.

Steven McHugh for Hall, said his client was a dedicated boxer and had never been in court before.

He said he recalled little of events that afternoon, and when he had come to his senses, accepted his behaviour had been “appalling”.