A THUG has been jailed for two years and seven months for a vicious attack on a brother and sister in York city centre.

Callum Tooley, 21, and his girlfriend Mollie Kilby, 20, punched and kicked Christian Pratt as he lay on the ground, following an altercation between three groups. Kilby was given a suspended sentence.

Rob Galley, prosecuting at York Crown Court, said Mr Pratt and his sister, Stephanie, had been walking along Coney Street with two friends in the early hours of October 2 last year when they became embroiled in an argument with another group, including Tooley and Kilby, about a man who was lying in the doorway of the Boots store.

Kilby punched Miss Pratt, 20, and lashed out at her brother as he tried to protect her. Mr Pratt was then floored by a single punch from Tooley.

Mr Galley said: “When he tried to get up, he was knocked down again with an uppercut to the side of the head. Witnesses said he was already bleeding to the side of his mouth when on the floor, but was then kicked by both of these defendants.”

York Press:

Kilby and Tooley, who were both drunk, kicked the man to the body as he was surrounded by others, two of whom may also have kicked him, added Mr Galley.

Mr Galley said: “He said he went to help his sister and could see no reason why it developed into this level of violence.”

Police were called and found Tooley looking “agitated and aggressive” in the doorway of a shop in Coppergate. As they placed the couple in a police van, Kilby said: “It was me. I knocked out two people.”

Mr Pratt, who is likely to be scarred for life, was taken to hospital with deep cuts to his lips and knuckle marks on his forehead, as well as a dislodged tooth. He was put on antibiotics after the wounds became infected and has suffered headaches ever since.

“He now avoids going out in York and had to take time off work,” added Mr Galley. Kilby and Tooley both admitted wounding Mr Pratt. Kilby also pleaded guilty to assaulting his sister. Tooley had a long list of previous convictions for violence, including assaulting a police officer, affray and attacking staff at a children’s unit. He also had an ABH conviction for biting a prison officer’s thumb when he was a youth. In 2013, he was given a 20-month jail sentence for wounding and common assault after stabbing someone who had ejected him from a party.

The Probation Service said Tooley, of Woodlea Avenue in Acomb, “invested greatly in his image as a hard man and would not back away from a fight”.

Tooley’s lawyer, Mark Partridge, said the construction worker, who had a difficult upbringing and spent years in care and periods homeless, found it hard “to be labelled with that image”.

Julian Tanikal, for Kilby, a care-home worker, said she was was “highly-drunk” at the time. She was likely to lose her job as a result of the attack.

Judge Paul Worsley QC described the attack as “vicious street violence” and told Tooley he appeared to “revel in your reputation as a hard man”.

The judge said although Kilby, of Boroughbridge Road, York, had started the violence and had knocked the male victim “senseless”, he could suspend the inevitable jail sentence in her case because of her age, pregnancy and lack of previous convictions.

Kilby’s 22-month prison sentence was suspended for 18 months.

Judge Worsley also ordered her to carry out 100 hours’ unpaid work.