Holton – Man jailed for wounding with intent to cause GBH

A 50-year-old man has been jailed after hitting another man with a baseball bat in Holton more than four years ago.

Karl Phillips, of Wenhaston Lane, Blythburgh, appeared before Ipswich Crown Court on Wednesday 11 December, where he was sentenced to three years and six months’ imprisonment.

Phillips had been found guilty of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm on Wednesday 2 October, following a trial lasting more than three weeks. He was also found guilty of having an offensive weapon in a public place.

The incident occurred on Monday 16 November 2020, when police were called at around 10.20pm to reports of an altercation involving several people in the village.

It transpired that a group of suspects - led by Phillips - travelled to the address from Blythburgh in a people carrier, some of whom were brandishing weapons including a baseball bats and knuckle duster.

A fight then ensued outside a house in the street, during which Philips struck a man on the head with a baseball bat. Phillips himself sustained stab wounds during the incident and the victim of Phillips’ attack – who was aged 29 at the time – also stood trial accused of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. However, he was found not guilty by the jury.

Another man (who was aged 26 at the time of the incident) and who had travelled with Phillips to Holton, previously pleaded guilty to possession of an offensive weapon in a public place (a knuckle duster). He was sentenced on 19 May 2024 to nine weeks’ imprisonment, suspended for six months. He was also ordered to complete 140 hours of unpaid work and 25 days rehabilitation activity requirement.

The court heard that the incident was a revenge attack in connection with a fight which had taken place between two teenage boys at around 6pm the same evening in Blythburgh.

Messages were then subsequently exchanged over social media between the boys and it was agreed that they would meet to sort things out in Holton.

Karl Phillips then drove himself and five others to Holton. Meanwhile, the victim was also driving around Holton, apparently looking for Phillips’ car. They then encountered each other in Bungay Road and Phillips hit the victim’s car with a baseball bat.

Both cars then drove to a nearby location where Phillips hit the victim on the head with the baseball bat and he then sustained the knife wounds. The two men were separated and Phillips and his associates fled the scene in their vehicle, before stopping in Harrison Lane where they flagged down a police car.

Karl Phillips and the victim were taken to hospital for treatment and they were both subsequently arrested as a result of the incident. Seven others were also arrested at the time, with three people (Phillips, the 26-year-old man and the victim) ultimately being charged. The other six people were released from police bail and faced no further action.

In passing sentence on Karl Phillips, the Judge commented that this was clearly a revenge attack - which was fuelled by alcohol - and that it had a significant impact on the victim and his family and the wider community of Holton.

Acting Detective Sergeant Edd Vincent, of East CID in Lowestoft, said: “This was an act of mindless bravado on the part of Karl Phillips which cannot even be described as spontaneous, as it was clearly planned over a few hours that evening and involved making the decision to drive to Holton.

“As the Judge said in their comments, the motive was clearly one of revenge. A discussion had apparently taken place earlier in the evening about calling the police in respect of the previous incident, but a decision was made not to.

“There is no place for vigilantism in our society and acts of this nature will not be taken lightly by the criminal justice system, as Karl Phillips has now discovered.”