Prison officer's head-butting son spared jail
A prison officer's son has escaped a jail sentence after he admitted head-butting a man at a Christmas disco.
Jonathan Gill, 24, of Beacon Avenue, Exeter, admitted affray after the incident at the Hole in the Wall pub in the city last November.
Gill assaulted his victim in the mistaken belief he had knocked his girlfriend over.
The judge at Exeter Crown Court put Gill, whose mother is a prison warden, under a three-month weekend curfew.
Judge John Neligan also sentenced Gill to carry out 80 hours of unpaid community work and ordered him to pay £600 compensation to his victim, Thomas Collier.
The court heard Mr Collier had been attending a Christmas works party, but one of his drunken colleagues was bumping into people on the dance floor.
When Gill's girlfriend was knocked to the ground, Gill thought Mr Collier was responsible and head-butted him, chipping and loosening some of his front teeth.
Decorator Gill, who had no previous convictions, was warned by Judge Neligan not to go out and get drunk when his curfew comes to an end on Bonfire Night.