A man who attacked two others at the General Synod service at York Minster last July has been jailed for 15 months.

Scott Apps, 42, “devastated” the life of David Smith, who was the chauffeur to the Archbishop of York, with a single punch that left him with damaged sight, tinnitus among other injuries, said Recorder Andrew Dallas.

As a result, Mr Smith had had to give up driving, and had broken down in tears when giving evidence about his injuries at Apps’ trial.

The judge told Apps: “I never saw in your face, manner or speech at any stage not the slightest remorse for what you have done, not the slightest remorse.”

Leeds Crown Court heard that Apps punched steward Sean Atkinson in the face when the steward tried to stop him walking up the Minster’s central aisle as the archbishops of Canterbury and York were processing towards the altar, then punched Mr Smith who tried to help remove him from the Minster.

It took other cathedral officials and members of the congregation some time to subdue and arrest Apps as he struggled and swore in a prolonged incident which the judge said must have been distressing and upsetting for everyone in the Minster.

The judge said both victims had been doing their duty in a perfectly reasonable manner.

Apps, a long-term unemployed man who lived in a tent in York, had denied causing actual bodily harm to Mr Smith and assaulting Mr Atkinson but was convicted by a jury before Christmas. He was jailed yesterday for 15 months.

The court heard he had been on bail at the time for two unprovoked separate assaults on a police custody officer and a member of the public. For Apps, Michael Collins said his client had formed a habit of relatively low-level violence and was an “unconventional” man, but said that did not excuse his behaviour.

Mr Collins said Apps did have good qualities but had believed some officials in the Minster hled a “grudge” against him.