A FLINTSHIRE man with ambitions to join the police force has been handed a community order after a “brutal attack” left a former friend unconscious.

Jaedon Murie, 24, of Springfields, Holywell, appeared at Mold Magistrates Court in relation to an incident that took place in Holywell on April 11 this year.

Ceri Ellis-Jones, prosecuting, told the court how Murie and his victim, Ryan Bradley, had known each other for a number of years and it was only when the defendant began a relationship with Mr Bradley’s former partner, that the friendship began to show signs of any problems.

She told the court that on the day of the assault, Mr Bradley had gone to the home of his former partner to confront her over a disagreement and after he left the address, refused to get a taxi home with his friends and had instead “walked off alone”.

Not long afterwards, a white Vauxhall Corsa vehicle pulled up in front of him on Tre Mostyn and Murie got out and shouted “get here now!” before launching a sustained attack on Mr Bradley, punching him more than 10 times, including numerous blows to the left side of the head.

In an attempt to try and protect himself, Mr Bradley had put both hands up around his head but fell to the floor, where he was subjected to further blows to the back of the head that resulted in him losing consciousness. Mr Bradley said he must have blacked out because the next thing he knew he was coming around in the back of an ambulance.

Witnesses to the attack say they had seen Mr Bradley on the floor, half in the road and that he appeared to be “lifeless”. Despite the brutal nature of the attack, Mr Bradley sustained quite superficial injuries including grazes to the side of his head and bruises to both of his hands.

Probation officer Tracey Flavell, told the court that the attack had been out of character and that Murie, who works in retail, was clearly very ashamed of his behaviour and had acted completely inappropriately. She said Murie had demonstrated genuine remorse and accepted the affect the attack would have on his victim and was fully aware that it could have been much worse.

Mrs Flavell went on to say that Murie wished to apologise to Mr Bradley through the courts and was saddened by the fact his actions may have a detrimental affect on his ambitions to join the police.

Chair of Magistrates Philip Jones said he and his colleagues had been concerned the assault had resulted in a man being left unconscious, with witnesses describing him as looking “lifeless”. He told Murie “the brutal attack” was so serious, immediate custody had been considered but because of the remorse shown and his previous good character decided to instead hand him a 12 month community order resulting in him carrying out 200 hours of unpaid work.

Mr Jones also made Murie subject to a restraining order, which stipulates he is not to contact Mr Bradley by any means for a period of three years and must pay his victim £400 in compensation, while the same amount was also handed to him as a fine.

He said: “I’m glad to see that you’ve shown remorse. I hope this is a very big learning curve for you because this could have been far far worse.”