Sutton man locked up for slashing three people in a pub with a hunting knife

Metal detectors are being installed in a Sutton pub after a man slashed three people with a hunting knife while trying to stab a fellow drinker in the head.
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CCTV showed Craig Soloman wearing a police hat and squaring up to another man in the Nag's Head before he was put in a headlock and dragged to the floor.

Prosecutor Alan Murphy said a second, separate, brawl broke out while Soloman's assailant was pulled off him, at 6.15pm, on Sunday, March 13.

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As the landlady, who had only been in the job for six weeks, and a barman, were ejecting the other man, Soloman produced a large hunting knife.

He appeared at Nottingham Crown CourtHe appeared at Nottingham Crown Court
He appeared at Nottingham Crown Court

The landlady, 'quite bravely tried to push Soloman into a nearby seat.'

Instead, he lashed out with the knife, putting a hole in (the other man's) beanie hat and causing a wound that had to be glued shut.

The barman's hand and the landlady's arm were cut in the struggle, but ‘she still managed to grapple with him and managed to get him into the seat,’ Mr Murphy said.

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Soloman, aged 43, screamed: "Let me tell you what happened. I'm going to f****** kill him."

He calmed down when the landlady pointed out she had been cut, and said: "I always carry a knife because I never know when I might need it."

The man in the beanie hat was left 'shaken and horrified' and now fears socialising in Sutton. The landlady said she lost business and is installing metal detectors at the Low Street pub.

Nottingham Crown Court heard Soloman has eight previous convictions for wounding, affray and assault occasioning actual bodily harm. And in February this year he received a community order for attacking a barman in the First Post bar.

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Philip Plant, mitigating, said the father-of-two accepts responsibility and ‘wants to express his remorse to those he injured.’

"Alcohol is no doubt at the root of this," he said, adding that he may suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Soloman, of Penn Street, Sutton, admitted two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, possession of a blade and attempted grievous bodily harm.

On Friday, Judge John Sampson jailed him for 42 months, and awarded £250 each to the landlady and her barman 'who had the invidious task of coming between these two men.'