A pub-goer who hit a man with a metal chair, threw a stool at him and butted a landlord, skipped bail so he could say goodbye to his young daughter before he was jailed.

Daniel Banner, 21, committed the offences in the Edward VII pub in Nunnery Lane, said Elizabeth Addicott, prosecuting for the National Probation Service at York Crown Court.

When he was called into the dock to answer for his crimes, he was nowhere to be found in the courthouse, though he had been in the building earlier and had spoken to his barrister, Ruth Cranidge. He returned some hours later.

Miss Cranidge said: “Realising the inevitable outcome, he went to see his daughter, who is two years old, effectively to say goodbye.”

Banner, of Stockton Lane, Heworth, was jailed for 36 weeks. He had denied charges of affray, battery and criminal damage relating to the pub fight, but magistrates convicted him at a trial and then sent him to York Crown Court for sentence. Miss Addicott said the landlord ordered Banner and another man out of the pub in March, 2007, because they had been fighting.

Only a few seconds later, the pair returned and pushed the landlord out of the way when he tried to stop them renewing their fight. The landlord suffered a cut to his cheek, and also had to spend £52 repairing the damage and cleaning up after the brawl.

Banner was initially given a suspended prison sentence with conditions that included a curfew, but admitted breaching it for the third time. Recorder Alan Hedworth QC said: “You have had at the least, a cavalier attitude to the requirements of that order”.

He revoked the suspension and sent Banner to jail.

The judge heard how Banner had repeatedly failed to do what probation officers told him.

He had broken his curfew twice, including one night when he had not been home at all.

In mitigation, Miss Cranidge pointed out that Banner had not committed any more offences after March 2007, apart from a drink-driving and a car document offence.