A “hooligan” father has been jailed after he and his children stormed a branch of McDonald’s and knocked the manager unconscious during a dispute over a burger.
A judge told Huw Jones, his adult sons Sam Jones and Kiayer Jones and son-in-law Thomas Hamilton that they should be “totally ashamed” of their behaviour.
Swansea Crown Court heard how a fight broke out at a McDonald’s outlet in Baglan, Wales, last November, leaving its manager bleeding from a head wound.
Hamilton and his sister-in-law arrived at the fast-food restaurant with a complaint about the delivery of a burger order, before he became angry and confrontational, pushing a manager and throwing punches, the trial was told.
She eventually left while her sister-in-law phoned her father, Huw Jones, allegedly describing how Hamilton was being “ill-treated”.
Huw Jones, 54, has been jailed for a year for his role in a hooligan brawl at a McDonald’s
A McDonald’s branch manager was left unconscious after the fight in Baglan, Wales
A shirtless Jones then “marched” into the McDonald’s, yelling and swearing at managers and demanding they come out and fight him. Wales online reported.
He was later joined by Hamilton and Jones’ two sons, Sam and Kiayer, who had also received phone calls.
They are said to have run behind a counter, smashed a cash register and thrown down a wet floor warning sign as bags of food waited to be delivered.
Jones, 54, was accused of picking up a stool and throwing it at one of the staff managers, hitting him in the head before the victim was kicked to the ground.
Prosecutors said many young customers in the establishment fled in fear from the “tumultuous fight,” while younger employees climbed through windows to escape.
The attackers then fled in their vehicle, while the McDonald’s branch was closed and the manager, who lost and regained consciousness, was taken to hospital.
The cost of the damage to McDonald’s was valued at £5,799, the court was told.
Huw Jones and his two sons, as well as Hamilton, have previously pleaded guilty to affray.
The father also admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm and had 12 previous convictions for 16 offences including violence, while the other three defendants had no previous convictions.
James Hartson, Huw Jones’s defence lawyer, told the court the father “reacted badly to a panicked phone call” and then “jumped to conclusions about events he did not even witness”.
Ian Ibrahim, who represents Hamilton, said his client accepted how “ridiculous” the altercation over a burger would sound and that the violent response was due to some “unfathomable reason”.
Sentencing the four offenders, Judge Ben Blakemore told them they should be “totally ashamed” of themselves for the “particularly disgusting” incident.
He said: ‘The four of them went crazy and acted like hooligans. I reminded myself that this was all because of a burger order.’
He sentenced Huw Jones to 12 months in jail, while the other defendants were given 12-month prison sentences suspended for 18 months and ordered to complete rehabilitation courses.
Hamilton was ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid community service, and 180 hours each for Sam and Kiayer Jones, and the trio will also have to pay McDonald’s £600 compensation.
