A FORMER soldier from Whitehaven attacked his business partner and friend after they fell out over VAT paperwork.

A Carlisle Crown Court judge told 37-year-old scaffolding company boss Paul Graham, who saw service in Afghanistan and Iraq, that the country owes him a debt of thanks for his Army service, but his offence was "inexcusable".

The defendant, of Brayton Road, Whitehaven, had earlier pleaded guilty to an unlawful wounding offence.

Prosecutor Gerard Rogerson described how the relationship between the two men, who had been friends and were running a scaffolding business together, broke down on Monday, June 29 last year.

From the beginning of the day, said the victim, Graham was argumentative, and used abusive language towards him. This included a threat to “smash his face in,” said Mr Rogerson.

The prosecutor said: “At the end of the afternoon, they went their separate ways but Mr Graham called [the victim] to demand additional information to do with the business.”

The defendant told the man that he had not provided this information quickly enough. At 7.50pm, Graham arrived by car at the victim’s house, finding him sitting outside in the garden.

The victim immediately asked the defendant what his problem was, at which point he was attacked, said Mr Rogerson.

“Mr Graham began swinging punches continually, with a few of them striking his head before pushing him to the chest, causing him to fall backwards.” Mr Rogerson said Graham then delivered kicks to the victim’s head – a version of events denied by the defendant.

The violence stopped when the victim’s partner intervened.

Mr Rogerson then outlined the injuries sustained by the victim. They included splits to his lower and upper lips, with the wounds requiring stitches; and he had to take three and a half weeks off work.

Three of his teeth were cracked and later had to be extracted.

He had regarded himself and Mr Graham as “good mates” before the attack and thought it sad that an argument over something as trivial as VAT could lead to such violence.

The attack had a massive impact on him and his family and he had sold the family’s caravan to fund setting up a new business by himself. The court heard that Graham was a man of previous good character.

Brendan Burke, defending, said that since the two men worked in the same trade it would be inappropriate to have a non-contact restraining order. A married father-of-two, Graham also supported his wife, who has MS, added the barrister.

Recorder Julian Shaw said references spoke of the defendant’s hard-working diligence and good character, and of his Army service.

The judge told the father-of-two: “In many respects, this court and society owes you a debt of thanks for the service you have provided this country in the past, which will have exposed you to unimaginable horrors…

“But that is no excuse for what you did to your fellow human being, your former friend and former business associate last year.”

The defendant had subjected the victim to a “fearful beating,” said the judge, who said that was “inexcusable.” But he noted that Graham had shown the integrity to plead guilty.

The judge remarked also on Graham’s “positive” previous good character, and how he had never before been in trouble with the police. He said the defendant was a “devoted” father and husband.

But his behaviour on the day in question had been “thoroughly disgraceful.” The judge imposed nine months jail, but suspended the sentence for two years and ordered that Graham completed 160 hours of unpaid work.