Totton man Daniel Barr jailed over attack on stranger in Bournemouth town centre

A Totton man out celebrating his release from prison four days after finishing a sentence for assaulting an emergency worker launched a “ferocious” attack on an innocent stranger – before beating up two other men.

Daniel Barr (31) left his first victim “effectively disfigured” after punching him so hard in the face he lost three teeth – just weeks after he had paid £2,000 for dental work, Bournemouth Crown Court heard.

Prosecutor Tom Wright told how the defendant, who lives at Jackie Wigg Gardens, had been in Bournemouth town centre in the early hours of 30th September this year.

He had left jail on 26th September after serving a short sentence for beating a custody detention officer at Southampton Central police station in July this year – his third attack on the emergency services.

Mr Wright said: “He was out celebrating his release from custody with his girlfriend. Mr Hitchings was in the town for work and had got a little lost.

“At around 1.55am he asked Barr for directions to a venue. The defendant told him that he was going to a taxi rank and to join them.”

CCTV, which was played in court, showed Mr Hitchings “making his way peacefully up the road with them (Barr and his girlfriend.)”

Then, said Mr Wright, “completely out of the blue and for no apparent reason Barr suckerpunched [Mr Hitchings] in his face.

“This caused him to rear backwards whereupon Barr delivered another punch and then threw a kick. Mr Hitchings suffered facial bruising and lost his three front teeth in the assault.”

The attack, added the prosecutor, was “completely unprovoked and quite ferocious”.

It was caught on CCTV which showed Barr “just walking away”. Minutes later it showed him attacking two men sitting on a bench. Mr Wright said: “He instigates a fight with them, punches one of them and throws punches at the other one.”

Barr and the two men fought, before Barr and one of them grappled on the floor – with the defendant’s T-shirt being ripped off at one stage. He continued the fight “bare-chested” and was eventually arrested by two passing police officers.

In a victim impact statement Mr Hitchings, who is in his late 20s, told how he now refuses to leave his home unless “it is absolutely necessary” saying: “Since this incident happened, I have been left conscious about my appearance.

“I can’t do my job due to the way I look. “

Mr Hitchings said he had paid £2,000 for work on his teeth just before the attack but now cannot afford to have them repaired.

He said the attack had left him “immensely paranoid” and constantly thinks it is going to happen again.

He said his relationship with his children had also been affected because he did not want them to see him “injured”.

The court heard that Barr had a long history of convictions for theft, assault, battery and affray dating back to 2006. He had assaulted two emergency workers in 2021 before the July assault.

He had pleaded guilty to one charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm to Mr Hitchings and two counts of assault on the two other men at Poole Magistrates’ Court in October.

Defending, barrister Robert Grey said “his problem is alcohol. It is the root cause of a significant amount of his offending.”

The defendant, who works as a landscape gardener and roofer, “recognised that he can’t go on as he has in the past” Mr Grey said. “He is not getting any younger and knows that he has got to some something about it.”

He argued that instead of a custodial sentence Barr should be ordered to take part in a treatment program to tackle his alcoholism and a Building Better Relationships course so he could work and pay for the victim to have his teeth fixed.

But Judge Susan Evans KC told Barr: “It is quite apparent that out of the blue and for no apparent reason you struck [Mr Hitchings] a heavy punch to his face. The effect on Mr Hitchings has been substantial. He is effectively disfigured.”

Sentencing to Barr to 20 months in jail for the attack on Mr Hitchings, she added he had shown “little in the way of remorse”. Barr was given two months on each charge of assault, with the sentences to run concurrently.

He will serve half his sentence in jail before being released on licence.