Mansfield thug stamped on victim’s head and blinded him in one eye during violent rampage

John Shooter left a trail of destruction in his wake after attacking several people within the space of a few hours, Nottingham Crown Court heard.

Shooter jumped his first victim from behind after he saw him withdraw £50 from an ATM on Leeming Street, Mansfield town centre, on March 16, 2022, at 11.30pm, Nottingham Crown Court heard.

Anthony Cheung, prosecuting, said Shooter kicked his victim to the head and torso, which "left him understanding what a football would have felt like”, he said.

Shooter stamped on his forehead so hard it left a bootprint, rupturing the globe of his eye and leaving him with a detached retina and a damaged lens.

His victim ony realised he was blind in that eye when he staggered into The Widow Frost pub. He required two operations and will be “left with significant reduction in his vision”.

Later the same night, Shooter, aged 30, punched and dragged a drunk man to the ground, before knocking him unconscious on Rosemary Street.

Mr Cheung said Shooter continued to hit him as he lay defenceless and stole £50.

He then went to McDonald’s, Park Lane, and fell asleep.

But after being woken and asked to leave at 6am, he shouted threats at a manager and threw a yellow floor cone which hit him in the face.

Tearing another floor cone so it had a jagged edge, Shooter chased staff into the rear of the takeaway and went behind the counter to rip out two cash tills and smashed them on the floor after taking some of the cash.

He was arrested at 9.45am, and assaulted an officer in the cells at Mansfield Police Station, punching him in the ribs

He was later charged with two counts of robbery, theft, assaulting an emergency worker and affray.

The court heard he has 42 previous convictions for 72 offences, including robbery in 2011, and assault causing actual bodily harm, in 2012 and 2015.

Shooter also committed a string of shop thefts, assaults and acts of vandalism, in the months before the attacks.

Police were called to the Hall Homeless Support Project, on Westfield Lane, after he told a volunteer he planned “to rob someone to make some money by putting a nail to their throat and killing them if need be”.

When he was searched, police found just such a long nail in his pocket.

Four days earlier, on February 24, at another McDonald’s, Shooter told a police officer: “If you don’t arrest me. I am going to kick you so hard with my right foot I will watch you bleed out.”

In October 2021, Shooter banged a woman’s head against a shop window on Chesterfield Road, and stole £20 which fell from her grasp when she was dazed.

Shooter also admitted thefts from Iceland, Tesco and Home Bargains, as well as criminal damage and public order offences, at his former home, on Mattersey Court, Mansfield, as well as threatening behaviour.

Luc Chignell, mitigating, said drug psychosis drove his violent offending, but he has been clean of drugs for nine months.

“He doesn’t seek to excuse this,” he said. “He understands he needs to be punished.”

Mr Recorder Owain Thomas KC jailed Shooter for eight years and ordered him to serve a further two-and-a half years on licence.

‘Appalling’ offending

Detective Sergeant Rich Kinsey, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: “The catalogue of violence showcased by Shooter within the space of just a few hours was absolutely appalling.

“After making the conscious decision to rob someone, the level of aggression he then demonstrated was so over the top that it left his first victim needing surgical treatment to fix the damage he’d caused.

“He then tried to repeat the trick by robbing someone else in the same violent fashion, and it’s only down to good fortune that they weren’t also seriously injured.

“Still not content with what he’d done already, he launched a tirade of abuse against restaurant staff for no reason, before even going on to assault a police officer when he was brought into custody.

“It really should go without saying but this kind of behaviour is completely unacceptable and has absolutely no place in this or indeed any society.

“Nottinghamshire Police will never tolerate this type of violence and aggression, so I’m pleased to see that Shooter is now being punished for his actions.”