Businessman glassed with champagne flute nearly died after 'losing six pints of blood', court hears
A BUSINESSMAN nearly died after he was glassed with a champagne flute when a posh ball erupted into a "Wild West saloon brawl", a court heard yesterday.
Guests in formal black tie evening wear traded punches and used ornamental candelabra lamps as weapons after a reveller upset people when he sprayed champagne around the bar.
Terrified staff at the £160-a-head Lobster Festival, at Hardwick Hall Hotel, in Sedgefield, Co Durham, barricaded themselves in an office, it was said.
Neil Parsons, 52, was only at the event because he had provided the portable toilets but he tried to break up the fight.
One guest, John Mullen asked him: "Are you fighting?" to which Mr Parsons replied "No, I'm working."
But Mullen assaulted him anyway, thrusting a broken champagne flute into his neck.
He was rushed to hospital suffering a "horrendous" wound which led to him losing six and a half pints of blood and needing 167 stitches.
Mullen, 50, of Manchester, fled the bash in 2012 and flew out of the UK on a false passport the next day.
He was on the run for four years until he was arrested last year in Bulgaria.
He yesterday admitted causing grievous bodily harm with intent and passport fraud at Teesside crown court. He will be sentenced today.
Mr Parsons nearly died in the attack after the glass narrowly missed the main artery in his throat, according to Home Office pathologist Dr Jennifer Bolton.
She said: "Given that fragments of glass were found close to the carotid sheath it would suggest that the wielded glass came within millimetres of damaging the carotid artery and with it significantly increasing the likelihood of death."
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Prosecutor Shaun Dodds described the fight at an earlier hearing as a "Wild West saloon brawl."
Other defendants were dealt with at Durham crown court in February 2014 for their part in the near riot.
Stuart Bell, 49, of Burnhope, County Durham, admitted causing fear or provocation of violence and was given a 24-month conditional discharge.
David Neil Garside, 29, of Hartlepool,Teesside, admitted affray and was given a four-month suspended sentence.
Dwane Douglas, 48, of Hartlepool, admitted affray and was sentenced to six months suspended for a year.
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