A MAN who launched a “terrifying” attack outside a Wetherspoons pub over a £50 debt has been put behind bars as he failed to keep to his suspended sentence order.

Kane Fernandez was given a chance last year after he was given a suspended sentence for assaulting a man near Chippenham’s Bridge House pub.

He was given a further chance when Judge Jason Taylor QC imposed a “notional” £5 fine and a “stern warning” last November after he went to carry out unpaid work on the wrong day.

But Swindon Crown Court heard on Monday (March 28) that Fernandez had failed to attend several unpaid work sessions earlier this year.

His advocate, Chloe Griggs, said he had been receiving various notifications to self-isolate because of Covid-19, before catching the virus himself.

And she claimed that Fernandez, now 25, didn’t receive a letter setting out the next unpaid work requirements over the next year.

But Judge Taylor was not impressed with the excuse, saying he should have been more proactive.

“People have to understand the order was complied with. He’d have to walk away scot free,” he said, referencing that the order has since lapsed since breach proceedings began.

“He wouldn’t have complied at all if his attitude was one of complacency for that order,” Ms Griggs said. “The submission is that it would have a devastating impact on him if he was to go to custody now.”

She said that he has now completed an apprenticeship, is in full-time employment and has stable accommodation.

“The damage [custody] would cause would be setting him back to square one,” Ms Griggs added.

Sentencing Fernandez, of Gastons Road in Chippenham, to serve ten weeks of the initial suspended sentence order, Judge Taylor said: “You were given a chance by this court when you received a suspended sentence order. You were given a further chance on 11th November.

“You come before me again and overall I am sad to say that your attitude has been casual and arrogant, and is made worse that after you were given that nominal fine and a chance by me you failed to attend.

“The fact is court orders must be respected and this order has now ended so I cannot take any effective action. You either get away with it or receive punishment.”

As previously reported, the victim of the assault was apparently lent £50 by Fernandez’s associate, Thomas Dymond, on a night out in 2016.

They had not seen each other for two years when the assault took place, on December 14, 2018.

Dymond followed him outside to the Borough Parade car park, where he attempted to grab his wallet. Fernandez saw the scuffle and landed two blows, before kicking the victim on the ground.

He was given an 18-week sentence, suspended for a year, with various community requirements.

Meanwhile Dymond, of Shockerwick Lane, Bathford, pleaded guilty to attempted robbery. He received 48 weeks’ imprisonment suspended for two years, with 250 hours of unpaid work and 25 rehabilitation activity requirement days.