A court heard how Rhys Hicks began punching and kicking a man who got out of his car before others intervened
A thug high on cocaine and booze after a two-day bender went on a town centre rampage and urinated on a war memorial – all while he was completely starkers. Rhys Hicks, 26, has been jailed after leaving motorists in ‘panic’ due to his wild and violent behaviour.
Bizarre footage showed Hicks randomly attacking cars as he made his way through the streets of Middleton, Greater Manchester, with no clothes on. The clip was viewed by thousands of people on social media, the Manchester Evening News reports.
Prosecuting, Jillian Newton told Manchester Crown Court how earlier on June 29, Hicks had been at the home of a woman he knew in Middleton, where she lived with her partner. Hicks then began shouting incomprehensibly.
After she asked him to stop, he refused and turned aggressive as he pushed her with both hands, hitting her back against a wall and causing her to fall. She sought shelter upstairs and suffered a panic attack. In the meantime, Hicks had left.
At around 4.45pm, a drinker at the Middleton Archer pub in the town centre noticed Hicks wearing only his boxers and a pair of trainers. He disappeared into the trees and reappeared, completely naked.
Hicks began randomly punching and kicking cars, the court heard. He then made his way to a nearby war memorial, on which he urinated, in what a judge described as representing a ‘shameful lack of respect to the war dead’.
At 5pm Hicks then made his way onto Manchester Old Road, where Paul Yates was driving after taking his 11-year-old granddaughter out for the afternoon to walk their dogs.
Mr Yates saw Hicks hitting other cars, and due to the build up of traffic, he was unable to get away. He got out of the car and Hicks, still completely naked, began punching and kicking him.
As he tried to get back into his car, Hicks reigned down more punches on him. Hicks then dragged Mr Yates away from the car briefly, and he got into the front seat of the vehicle. Members of the public intervened and helped drag Hicks out. They detained him until the police arrived.
Hicks was interviewed the following day, when he admitted he had been on a ‘two-day bender’. Mitigating, Rebecca Caulfield said Hicks had pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity.
She said that he ‘entirely blames’ drink and his cocaine use for his offending. She said that Hicks wanted to express ‘how sorry he is for his behaviour’.
Sentencing, Recorder Jeremy Lasker told Hicks: “Your behaviour towards cars, and more particularly motorists, who were driving on that summer’s afternoon is actually the stuff that members of the public simply dread these days.
“Anyone who, as a driver, is regularly stopped in traffic in urban areas cannot help these days but to be aware of the potential danger from individuals; on this occasion, from you. That’s why, for the most part, people decided to keep their cars locked for safekeeping when they drive in urban areas.
“I doubt if many of the motorists who were on that road that day will forget what happened.”
Hicks, previously of Castlerigg Close, Heaton Chapel, Stockport, pleaded guilty to two counts of criminal damage, one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, one count of assault by beating, one count of affray, and one count of causing danger to road users.
He was sentenced to 16 months in prison, and was told he would likely serve 40 per cent of the jail term behind bars.
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