'Loutish' neighbour rained blows down on cancer-suffering Leeds mechanic over long-running dispute

Francis Joseph Mullan lost his temper with garage worker Christopher Hitchings and rained blows down on him while clutching a bunch of keys, leaving the victim with puncture wounds to his head.

Leeds Crown Court was told that Mr Hitchings ran CM Performance on Cross Gates Road, with Mullan’s Poole Crescent home backing onto the business. There had been ongoing issues between the pair with claims by Mullan that the garage was burning commercial waste and claims staff were urinating against Mullan’s back fence.

On April 16, 2021, Mullan angrily went to the garage to complain that smoke was pouring into his house from the business and confronted Mr Hitchings who was working on a vehicle at the time. He was aware that Mr Hitching’s had cancer at the time. CCTV from the garage was played to the court and showed Mullan approach the victim who was bent down at the time.

Words were exchanged before Mullan hit him to the head. He then grabbed him with his right hand and repeatedly struck him with his left which contained the bunch of keys. The victim was later taken to hospital with the cuts to his head that needed stitching.

Mullan, a 47-year-old landscape gardener, was arrested later that day and admitted he only went to speak with Mr Hitchings, but it escalated into a fight. He also said he did not deliberately use the keys which was accepted by the Crown. He later admitted a charge of Section 20 GBH.

Prosecutor Kristina Goodwin said Mr Hitchings had recently passed away from cancer, but in a victim impact statement, had said he was forced to move his business elsewhere after the community had taken exception to him involving the police. His widow also said that because of the police tape that was put around the premises in the immediate aftermath of the attack, its reputation suffered with some believing that the business itself was being investigated for illegal activity.

Mitigating on Mullan’s behalf, James Bourne-Arton said it was “truly out of character”, and despite having five previous convictions for nine offences, has no previous violent crimes against his name and his last appearance before a court was in 2000.

He said: “Black smoke was going into his daughter’s bedroom which caused him particular irritation. He took it upon himself to confront Mr Hitchings which he regrets. There’s been no offending for 23 years and no relevant previous convictions. He is a hard-working family man and takes pride in providing for his family.”

Judge Simon Phillips KC accepted father-of-three Mullan did not realise he had the keys in his hand, and did not seek to minimise his actions. He told him: “It was an ill-tempered violent attack by you. It was entirely unjustified and you acted in a loutish way. It was bullying and prolonged. You were aware of his health problems at the time and your actions caused significant financial loss to his family.”

Mullan was given an 16-month sentence, suspended for two years, ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work, given a curfew order and told to pay £1,500 compensation to Mr Hitching’s widow.