A man with a grudge against police ended up in a rooftop stand-off with officers a month after carrying out a "brutal" attack on a man by stamping on his head, a court has heard. Robert Shane Hughes, known as Shane, threatened to throw a rock at officers who had gathered below during the siege.
The 38-year-old was even said to be "impressed" that his behaviour on the rooftop had been shared on TikTok. However, a judge at Mold Crown Court was not impressed and told Hughes he acted in a "completely unacceptable way", noting that "significant" police resources had been deployed to the incident.
Brutal assault caught on mobile phone footage
Rabiah Tariq, prosecuting, told the court that a month prior to the rooftop incident, Hughes had subjected a man to a brutal assault. The victim, Lloyd Thomas, told his probation officer about the incident on July 20, in which he had been kicked and stamped on. Mr Thomas had suffered a suspected seizure and had to be taken to hospital, but did not make a victim statement, North Wales Live reports.
The judge, His Honour Simon Mills, said the assault on Mr Thomas was "brutal" and was caught on mobile phone footage. He added: "The defendant had the complainant completely at his mercy. Someone says 'It's my turn'. The defendant was kicking and stamping on the complainant's head while the victim was trying to protect himself." The use of his foot elevated the seriousness of the assault, he said.
Rooftop stand-off in Denbigh
Ms Tariq told the court how the following month Hughes jumped from an upstairs window of a property in Denbigh, north Wales, onto a flat roof. Police were called. He threatened to throw a brick and kicked gravel at officers, the court heard. Eventually, after negotiations, he came down and was arrested.
On the rooftop siege, the judge said: "The defendant seems to have been impressed that he managed to get himself on TikTok. That's what he told the probation officer."
Sentencing and background
Gareth Bellis, defending, said Hughes has "complex and long standing needs linked to childhood trauma", although they are no excuse for his behaviour. But he added: "This is not an affray with multiple people involved. It's one man acting in a completely unacceptable way towards the police."
The judge told Hughes, who has 33 convictions for 95 offences, it had been a "nasty and cynical" assault. He said: "Whatever the problems you have had in your life that's never an excuse for using violence against someone you have got some sort of grudge about," who was pleading for him to stop. On the affray, he added that taking "steroids and supplements" was "no mitigation at all". He did it because he has a grudge against the police "presumably because you have had to be arrested, sometimes for committing serious offences" during his life. "Significant" police resources had to be deployed, he added.
The judge sentenced Hughes, of no fixed abode, to eight months imprisonment for assault causing ABH and eight months, consecutively, for affray. He will serve up to half then be released on licence.
