R v Ashley Sutcliffe

Facts

The appellant, Ashley Sutcliffe (Clough), was sentenced in the Crown Court at Kingston upon Hull by HHJ Mark Bury on 22 May 2026, following guilty pleas, to 27 months' imprisonment for assault occasioning actual bodily harm contrary to section 47 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861, with a consecutive 6-month sentence for racially aggravated common assault. The first offence arose on 25 October 2024, when the appellant attacked Daryl Tate while he slept in his bed at a flat he shared with Natalie Perrins, a friend of the appellant, the attack apparently motivated by a disagreement over whether Mr Tate should remain in the accommodation. The appellant struck Mr Tate repeatedly to the head and body with a dog chain while Perrins threw his possessions out, and pointed at him a kitchen knife she fetched at his request. The appellant then made a 999 call falsely alleging that Mr Tate had attacked him and raped Perrins, which led to Mr Tate's arrest before he was unconditionally released. Separately, at around 10.30 pm on 29 January 2025, the appellant and Helen Brumby, both drunk, racially abused Mr Syed Shoriquzzaman on a bus; Brumby put him in a headlock and punched him, and the appellant punched him as she left. The single judge granted leave to appeal against sentence.