Notorious Pickering man in trouble again; told man at cash machine he had a gun

Adam Cousins, 35, had just been kicked out of Bar 4 & Lounge for drunken, aggressive behaviour when he walked up to the victim who was about to withdraw cash from an ATM machine next-door to the pub in Market Place.

Cousins - who has a plethora of previous convictions for violence, public disorder and drug matters - grabbed the victim by the scruff of the neck and said to him: “Tell those people in (the bar) they are dead.”

The victim, who was named in court, protested that he had “nothing to do with what was going on inside the bar”, said prosecutor Olivia Murray.

But Cousins, who was being egged on by a friend, “continued to shout at him and said he had a gun”.

A passer-by, who happened to be a member of the door staff who was on his way to work, saw the commotion and intervened. He escorted the named victim back into the bar and Cousinswas later arrested.

Ms Murray said the victim was frightened that he was going to be robbed at gunpoint, but in fact Cousins was bluffing about the weapon.

Cousins, who works as a forester, was originally arrested on suspicion of affray but ultimately charged with common assault, which was in breach of a suspended prison sentence. He admitted the offence on the day of trial and appeared for sentence on Tuesday.

The court heard that Cousins had been ejected from the bar due to being “intoxicated either through alcohol or drugs”.

“He was displaying aggressive behaviour (and) ejected from the bar by staff members,” said Ms Murray.

“They telephoned police (but) the defendant remained outside while shouting inside the bar.”

It was at this point that the victim went outside to the cash machine and was pounced upon by Cousins in an apparently-unprovoked attack.

Cousins - whose last registered address was Fishers Garth, Pickering - had 26 previous convictions for 38 offences including theft, criminal damage, cannabis possession and battering his ex-partner.

The incident in Market Place was the third breach of his suspended sentence imposed in April 2016.

Thomas Stanway, for Cousins, said his troublesome client “realised he has to get out of Pickering”.

He had been working away as a forester since May and was currently working on the HS2 line in Birmingham.

“He recognises that pubs in Pickering and previous relationships were doing him no good,” added Mr Stanway. “He has made a fresh start and turned over a new leaf.”

Judge Andrew Stubbs QC said he had noted that although Cousins was in breach of the suspended sentence, it had now run its course and the defendant had now moved away from the area.

Cousins was fined £700 and ordered to pay the victim £200 compensation, as well as £425 costs.