Drunken man threatened to kill staff at Leamington pub and then burn it down

When he was arrested a drunken man who had threatened staff at a south Leamington pub told the police he was ‘sorry and ashamed’ of his actions.

And Alexander Baker asked officers to send his apologies to the manager and a female staff member he had threatened, a judge at Warwick Crown Court has heard.

Baker (30) now of Cadman Crescent, Wolverhampton, pleaded guilty to possessing cannabis, possessing an offensive weapon and two charges of threatening behaviour.

He was sentenced to nine months in prison suspended for 12 months and ordered to do 100 hours of unpaid work, to take part in a rehabilitation activity, and to pay £425 costs.

Prosecutor Christopher Pembridge said that on April 19 Baker went into the Urban Fox pub in Tachbrook Road, Leamington, bleeding from a wound to his hand.

He was intoxicated, and the manager told him he would have to leave once he had finished his drink, at which Baker became hostile.

Some customers assisted to remove him from the pub, but once outside he began shouting: “I’m going to kill you and burn everything down.”

Baker then took as metal pole from his bike and shouted at the manager and a female staff member who were preventing him from going back inside: “I’m going to kill you with this if you don’t get out of my way.”

Some people took him away from the scene to try to calm him down, but he returned, still with the metal pole, and continued making threats, so the police were called.

As officers arrived, Baker ran away, but was caught with the pole still on him, and was arrested and found to also have two bags of cannabis.

When he was interviewed, Baker gave a statement in which he said he had been drinking and did not recall any of what had happened.

Baker, who had previous convictions for possessing cannabis and possessing it with intent to supply, added that he was ‘sorry and ashamed,’ and asked the police to pass on his apologies to the people involved.

Sentencing Baker after reading a report on him, Judge Peter Cooke told him: “To send you into custody would be disruptive of a life which already has a degree of instability in it.”