Haverhill Rovers footballer jailed
FOOTBALL - Haverhill Rovers v Norwich United Pictured: Joe Boreham
A Haverhill Rovers player who armed himself with a knife and a crowbar outside a pub while angry with his girlfriend has been jailed.
Joe Boreham, 21, had sent abusive messages to the woman while she was drinking with a group of friends before he arrived and spat on their table.
Ipswich Crown Court heard how when a man inside the pub tried to calm Boreham down he punched him in the face before picking up a stool and then went outside.
The incident at Benson Blakes in St Johns Street, Bury St Edmunds on the evening of January 27 continued with a scuffle in which a second man who tried to intervene was also punched.
Prosecutor Robert Sadd said that midfielder Boreham, of Landseer Court, Haverhill, had produced a craft knife from his bag and then gone to his van, which was parked nearby, and returned holding a crowbar.
Police arrived shortly afterwards and Boreham was arrested after officers armed with a Taser weapon confronted him.
Mr Sadd said the incident had started earlier that evening when Boreham’s girlfriend Elspeth Woodley had told him she was going bowling with friends.
However, Boreham later saw her at a pub in Bury St Edmunds town centre and from there she left with her friends and moved on to Benson Blakes.
Mr Sadd said that after sending abusive messages demanding to know where Miss Woodley was, Boreham arrived at the pub to confront her. Mr Sadd said: “He appeared at the pub and shouted and spat towards her.”
When interviewed Boreham told police that he had been angry with his girlfriend and admitted punching two men at the pub after getting “wound up” by their attempts to intervene.
Boreham pleaded guilty to two offences of common assault, one of being in possession of an offensive weapon and one of having a bladed article in a public place.
Defending, Simon Gladwell told the court that Boreham had not revealed the blade of the craft knife and believed that when he took it from his bag it had prevented the incident
from escalating. The knife and crowbar were used in Boreham’s work.
Mr Gladwell said: “He quite clearly has a lot of issues that he needs to address, some of which have been made worse by his drinking.”
Sentencing him to a total of eight months imprisonment, Mr Recorder Guy Ayers told Boreham: “You have some very worrying attitudes towards women and what constitutes proper behaviour in a relationship.”
Mr Recorder Ayers added: “This was a very nasty piece of violence and potential violence in a public place.”
Joe Boreham signed for Rovers at the beginning of the 2010/11 season when they moved to New Croft.
Boreham struggled to establish himself as more than a bit-part player and has been injured for much of this season.
He last played on January 5, putting on a man of the match performance during a 2:1 win over CRC.
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Weather for Haverhill
Saturday 25 May 2013
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 6 C to 14 C
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