A TAUNTON bouncer who ejected a customer from a club, pushing him to the floor and kicking him as he lay on the ground, had a previous conviction for a similar offence at Bridgwater.

Door supervisor Thomas Luke Howard was on duty at Woods Wine Bar in Yeovil when he was asked to remove two men who were drunk and could not pay for their drinks.

When a scuffle broke out between them he took the customer down the stairs onto a decking area and pushed him off causing him to fall to the ground and he then went over to him and carried out the assault.

When the defendant appeared before Somerset Magistrates he said he was disgusted with his behaviour saying it had been “a stupid act of violence in the heat of the moment” and had now stopped working as a bouncer.

Howard, 23, of Wrantage, admitted assaulting Alan McLean by beating him during the incident on August 9.

Prosecutor Lucy Coleman said that Howard was working at Woods wine bar when he was called to the bar to assist with two men who were causing problems.

“They were very drunk and wanted drinks and were counting out money but didn’t have enough to pay for them so the manager asked them to leave,” she said.

“Howard was asked to remove them and he started to escort them out of the club and there was a short scuffle between him and Mr McLean and the defendant removed him.

“He took him downstairs onto the decking area and then pushed him off causing him to fall to the floor and as he fell Howard went over to him and kicked him however the victim did not make a statement to the police but the incident was captured on CCTV.”

When Howard was interviewed by police he told them that the manager wanted the two men to leave so he took their drinks from them by force and started shuffling them out.

He said the victim grabbed him by the neck and once at the bottom of the stairs he (the victim) put his hand round his throat so he pushed him out and stupidly kicked him.

Miss Coleman said: “The defendant said he was truly sorry and for what he did and was not what he was trained to do in the role of a door supervisor.

“He said he kicked the victim in the backside and said it was a stupid act of violence in the heat of the moment and he lost his temper ad kicked him fairly hard.

“He was disgusted with his behaviour and said he could have handled the situation a lot differently.”

Although Howard told the police the incident had been a “one-off” the court was told that he had a previous conviction for battery in similar circumstances while working as a door supervisor in Bridgwater in September 2014.

Defending solicitor Neil Priest said that Howard, who had worked as a bouncer for four years, had been through a “problematic year” when his grandfather died and his mother had been badly affected as a result.

“This has put pressure on my client and perhaps he has not been thinking as well as he could,” he said.

Probation officer Mo Lawton said the defendant admitted he had been feeling stressed at the time and said people would have been shocked at his behaviour adding that he should have been protecting public safety not causing damage to it.

“This was a massive wake-up call and said it was likely his door supervisor licence would be revoked anyway but said he would not be returning to that sort of work,” she said.

The magistrates sentenced Howard to a 12 month community order with a requirement to carry out 80 hours unpaid work. He was also ordered to pay a £150 court charge, £60 victim surcharge and £85 costs.