Suspended jail terms handed to footballer Kyle Dempsey and his father

A Carlisle Crown Court judge imposed the sentences after ruling that neither man was provoked and that neither acted in self defence.

Bolton Wanderers player Kyle Dempsey, 27, and his 50-year-old father were sentenced this afternoon for their attack outside and in Maryport Labour Club on doorman Darryl Jarvis, who had simply been doing his job.

The father and son had earlier admitted an actual bodily harm assault on Mr Jarvis during a violent incident at the club on July 16 last year. Dempsey senior has also admitted causing criminal damage to a door.

Kyle Dempsey was given a 12 month jail term, suspended for 18 months, with a requirement to complete 200 hours of unpaid work in the community and a four-month electronically monitored curfew from 9pm to 7am each day.

He must pay compensation to the victim of £1,500.

Michael Dempsey was given 13 months jail, also suspended for 18 months, with 20 rehabilitation activity days, 200 hours unpaid work, and a 120-day alcohol abstinence order which will be electronically monitored. He too must pay compensation to the victim, also set at £1,500.

He must observe a two-month 9pm to 7am curfew.

Earlier in the case, the father and son had opted to have a “trial of issue” before a judge on the basis of their claim that that their violence was a reaction to "provocation" from their victim with “excessive” self-defence in Kyle Dempsey’s case and in an attempt to defend his son in Michael Dempsey’s case.

That claim was rejected by the proseution. Giving his ruling today, Judge Ian Unsworth KC outlined the facts in detail, explaining that he had reviewed the CCTV images which captured much of the incident.

Bolton Wanderers player Kyle Dempsey, from Blackpool, had played for his team in a friendly fixture against Carlisle United earlier in the day before socialising with his family at Maryport’s Tap Tavern, the court heard.

Dempsey senior, of Whitecroft, Maryport, who is a former professional rugby rugby player, drank six or seven pints while his son had three of four. It was as the defendants were walking to the Maryport Labour Club to collect Kyle Dempsey’s grandfather that the footballer was attacked by a local man.

Kyle Dempsey was briefly rendered unconscious, the court heard.

A short time later, Mr Jarvis was on duty at the front entrance of the  Labour Club when he witnessed a “swarm of people” running towards the club. The man who attacked Kyle Dempsey was able to get into the club following a struggle at the doors.

CCTV of the incident showed Kyle Dempsey “acting aggressively” outside the club, said the judge. Michael Dempsey threw a punch, said the doorman, and the blow connected with his face and the bouncer then recalled feeling "multiple strikes to my body and face and head” as he was “bent double” and being kept down.

Kyle Dempsey was directly in front of him at that stage and Michael to his left. The incident was paused after staff at the club closed the door. But six minutes later, the doors were flung open  - kicked by Michael Dempsey.

Michael Dempsey was “clearly angry” and determined to get to the man who had punched his son in the earlier incident on the street, the court heard. In the violence that followed, said Judge Unsworth, he was satisfied that neither defendant was acting in self defence.

Of Michael Dempsey, Judge Unsworth said: “I am satisfied so that I am sure that Michael Dempsey was not acting in self-defence; he was joining in an ugly, brute attack." The CCTV images showed Kyle Dempsey kicking the victim twice.

Commeting on the younger man, the judge said: "Kyle Dempsey was not defending himself; he was out of control and, in his words, had lost it."

It was only the arrival of the police that brought the violence to an end. At this point, the court heard, Mr Jarvis was covered in blood and appeared dazed. He suffered a broken nose, a chipped tooth, a cut to the head and bruised ribs.

“It is very great fortune that his injuries were not more serious,” said the judge.

Judge Unsworth added: “In my judgement, this was a determined, sustained and joint attack on a doorman who was doing no more than trying to preserve public order and the safety of those in the club.”

The court also heard a victim personal statement from Mr Jarvis, who said he lost a night’s pay from his work as a door supervisor and had to take a week off work from his day-job as a care home maintenance manager.

That time off had to come out of his holiday entitlement, he said. Mr Jarvis said a statement that was issued by Kyle Dempsey’s club had “altered the truth” of what happened and threw suspicion onto him.

“I was worried about repercussions,” he said. It took nearly three months for his ribs to heal and he suffered weeks of headaches as a result of the “multiple assaults” he suffered at the hands of Kyle and Michael Dempsey.

After the incident, he said, his wife had repeatedly asked him to give up his work as a door supervisor because she feared for his safety. “My children were also worried that I might return home in the same state,” he said.

Mr Jarvis said: “The case should have been completed quickly at the magistrates court if they had had the decency to admit what they had done.” He described the father and son as “mindless thugs” whose intention was to cause him serious harm and who then, after their first attack, had returned to get at him again.

He added: “I am grateful to the police officers who pulled them off me; if they had carried on my injuries could have been significantly worse and I might not even be here today.”

Lisa Judge offered mitigation for both defendants. She described Michael Dempsey as a “loving, kind, family man,” saying he had wept when he was told that his conviction might prevent him in the future from being a youth rugby coach.

As Michael Dempsey watched the CCTV images of the incident, there had been “unequivocal horror” in his expression. He had expressed not only remorse, but “insightful remorse,” said the barrister.

The impact of a prison sentence would be “utterly ruinous,” said Miss Judge. On the night of the violence, after his son was knocked out briefly on the way to the Labour Club, Kyle Dempsey had told his father he would not come home again.

“His reaction was inappropriate – to kick the door down but it arose in an highly emotive situation,” said Miss Judge. Kyle Dempsey had also expressed genuine remorse and he too had reacted with horror on seeing the video footage.

He had lived for his football since the age of six. During the incident, after he was rendered unconscious by the early attack, his thinking was askew. With a unblemished professional record, he does charitable work wherever he is able to.

Miss Judge said: “He is a individual who engages in charitable acts and works with youths at grass roots level… He is worried that parents will think he is a poor role model. His concern is about parents and others. At his level and age, within a professional football career, any period of imprisonment will wreck that life for him.”

As he passed sentence, Judge Unsworth said there was a realistic prospect of rehabilitation for both men. The court had heard "strong personal mitigation" for both defendants.

"You are two people of positive good character," continued the judge. "You have brought a lot of good into the world, not only for your family but for others." The judge added taht a significant feature of the case was the fact - supported by medical evidence - that Kyle Dempsey had suffered concussion following the earlier assault.

Judge Unsworth ruled that the mitigating features of the case outweighed the aggravating ones. 

Judge Unsworth will pass sentence later this afternoon. Both men have been warned that they are facing possible jail sentences.