Two men jailed for unprovoked attack on mourner during a wake at Olton Tavern pub

Reiss Johnson, 27, and Daniel Stirling, 22, have been sentenced to a combined total of 22 months behind bars for violently assaulting a man who had just attended his brother’s funeral.

It happened on the evening of Tuesday 14th April last year after the 61-year-old victim and his friend asked the rowdy pair, who were part of a group, to quieten down.

They were waiting for a lift outside the Olton Tavern on Lode Lane, when they challenged Johnson and Stirling about their anti-social behaviour.

The pair reacted by throwing a banana skin and a small shot glass – before launching a vicious attack, punching and kicking their target as he lay on the ground.

Police released CCTV of the assault as part of an appeal to trace the men a few weeks later – which prompted them to hand themselves in at Solihull police station.

At Birmingham Crown Court earlier this week, both pleaded guilty to assault.

Johnson was sentenced to 16 months in jail and Stirling was sentenced to six.

PC Chris Parry, from the violent crime team at Chelmsley Wood police station, said: “This was a violent and completely unnecessary attack on two men who had been minding their own business before the group began to pick on them.

“The level of violence was completely unprovoked and particularly distressing, given that the two men had just laid a close relative to rest.

“CCTV captured some of the attack and after being shared on social media, Johnson and Stirling had no choice but to hand themselves in.”

Read more: https://www.west-midlands.police.uk/latest-news/news.aspx?id=4178