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A summer holiday spent smoking cannabis and drinking beer in Malta did not really help an angry Briton to cool down. Upon his return in the UK, he punched a nurse and a security guard and racially abused a doctor, costing him a GBP1,600 sentence.
Stuart Suckling, 38, had just returned to Britain feeling unwell after a holiday here in June 2004. When he walked into the accident and emergency unit at the Good Hope Hospital in Sutton Coldfield, West Mids, he started an unprovoked attack on nurse Katie Detheridge, punching her in the face, and then also attacking a security guard who rushed to her aid, leaving both of his victims with blood pouring from their mouths.
A British court found him guilty of the attack last week and ordered him to pay GBP1,600 after a rare private prosecution by the National Health Service.
His outburst was put down to a one-off psychotic episode.
Suckling admitted two counts of actual bodily harm and one count of affray. He was given a 12-month supervision order at Birmingham Crown Court and ordered to pay his two victims £800 each in compensation.
The nurse said she was pleased that Suckling had been brought to justice.
“It is unacceptable for any professional within their workplace to experience threatening behaviour or violence,” she said. “As a direct result of this incident I suffered both physically and emotionally.”
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