A TOURIST assaulted two women after confronting a group of locals over their decision to bring a dog to a Lake District pub.

Peter Middleton, 40, who was in the Crafty Baa in Keswick, accused the group of ‘being cruel’ to the dog which he believed was ‘distressed’ and should not have been in the pub in the early hours of October 13.

Following a verbal altercation, he assaulted the bar manager and a woman who was with the dog after she challenged him about his behaviour.  

Middleton pleaded guilty to assault by beating and common assault when he appeared before Workington Magistrates’ Court.

Pamela Fee, prosecuting, read a statement from the bar manager who said that a fight had broken out between Middleton and two other people. The bar manager saw Middleton grab hold of one of the people and she ‘swiftly dealt with the situation’.

The bar manager then went outside for a cigarette and saw a woman she knew from when she was at school. The woman told her that the whole incident was about a dog that was with the party. Middleton had said they were being cruel to the animal.

He was shouting, saying that the woman shouldn’t have a dog in a nightclub. The bar manager told Middleton that it wasn’t a nightclub and dogs were welcome.

The bar manager then saw Middleton grabbing hold of the woman. The bar manager confronted him and Middleton grabbed her by the ponytail and threw her against the window of the pub.

The bar manager said it ‘caught her completely off-guard’. She told Middleton he needed to leave.

The other victim said she had been in the pub with friends. They were enjoying themselves and were having a few drinks. Middleton had started pulling the dog towards where he was sitting. He had then unclipped the dog’s lead.

He started saying the dog wasn’t happy and shouldn’t be in the premises. The victim said a verbal altercation had taken place and she then went outside the bar.

She said she ‘saw red’ when she saw Middleton and asked why he was acting in this way. She said he then grabbed her by the hair and dragged her onto the floor.

The defendant was interviewed by police and said he had a ‘poor recollection’. He said he didn’t drink alcohol very often and had a lot to drink.

In his opinion, the dog was ‘distressed’. He said there had been an argument between him and another male, which had spilled out in the street.

He said he must have felt ‘threatened’ to have acted in the way that he did.

John Cooper, defending, said: “He has got no previous convictions. He has a friend from Manchester. Keswick was the place they agreed to go.

“His friend is a bit of a drinker. He is very much out of practice.

“If you go out in Newcastle or Manchester, you don’t take your dog out until one o’clock in the morning.

“He should never have got involved, whatsoever.”

Middleton, of Malvern Road, North Shields, North Tyneside, was fined £461 and ordered to pay £50 to each of his victims. He must also pay £85 costs and a £184 victim surcharge.