By Staff Reporter

Last updated at 11:35, Saturday, 06 February 2010

A respected rugby league star from west Cumbria narrowly escaped going to jail after a judge heard how he knocked a man out and then stamped on his head.

Ricky Wright

A judge told Ricky Lee Wright, 32, that he was only leaving the court a free man because his references spoke so highly of him.

Carlisle Crown Court heard that Wright, of Broadacres, High Harrington, was deeply ashamed of his actions, which had cast a shadow over his many achievements as a talented professional sportsman.

A former rugby league high-flier who played for Workington Town, Leeds and Sheffield, he had earned high praise for his work as a coach with Seaton.

But the self-control that characterised his efforts on the pitch deserted him on the night of July 18, the court was told.

Charles Bland, prosecuting, described how Wright had been out in Whitehaven and eventually made his way to a taxi rank in the town at around midnight.

As a taxi arrived, he jumped the queue, and a couple who were in front of him began to remonstrate.

Witnesses later described how Wright knocked out the man, Paul Sewell, felling him with a punch. As his victim lay on the pavement witnesses saw Wright stamp on his head, said Mr Bland.

Mr Sewell suffered cuts, a fractured cheekbone, needed hospital treatment, and had to take six weeks off work.

In his victim impact statement, Mr Sewell said the attack had made him a lot more nervous about going out.

Defence barrister Tim Evans, for Wright, said his client accepted that he had behaved extremely badly, after having consumed a significant amount of drink.

“He felt deep and genuine remorse, said the barrister.

He said: “Mr Wright has achieved something which many of us as young boys, and even as adults, actually only dreamed of: Going out on to the turf at the old Wembley to represent a rugby league club.

“He was a star on the pitch as a player and a star in the community thereafter, and he’s been a star in his working life.”

Mr Evans said Wright had turned around Seaton Rugby Club by the sheer force of his personality.

“He’s genuinely made a real difference with what he has done,” said the barrister.

Wright also had plans to emigrate to Australia after being offered promotion by his employer, he said.

He added: “There’s no doubt that he has utterly and thoroughly learned his lesson.”

Recorder Kevin Grice, passing sentence, said: “You have played rugby league to a very high level. People will have looked up to you when you did that and they will have done so because they will have expected that you were a man who could keep control.

“I’m sure that in the course of your professional rugby league life you were subject to provocation, which you met with that control.

“On this occasion, it wholly deserted you.”

He said the excellent references for Wright meant that he did not have to receive an immediate prison sentence. Recorder Grice imposed a 12-month jail sentence, suspended for 18 months, and imposed a night-time curfew to run over the next four months.

He also ordered that Wright should pay his victim compensation of £850: “You must consider yourself extremely fortunate that you are walking [free] out of this court today,” he added.

First published at 09:00, Saturday, 06 February 2010
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk