Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Man jailed for filming 'outrageous' running-jump attack on homeless men in Hull

'This sort of behaviour, in a civilised society, cannot be tolerated," judge tells Jake Mann

Zamira Rahim
Tuesday 12 February 2019 14:55 EST
Jake Mann laughed as he filmed the attack on the tent where two homeless men were sleeping.
Jake Mann laughed as he filmed the attack on the tent where two homeless men were sleeping. (SWNS)

A man who laughed as he filmed an attack on a tent where a pair of homeless men were sleeping, has been jailed for 14 weeks.

As another man took a running jump and the flimsy structure in Hull, Jake Mann could be heard chuckling in the footage he took of the incident on 30 November, prosecutors said.

One of the victims was left with an injured knee and the other remains afraid of another attack, Hull Crown Court heard.

The court heard Mann had travelled to Hull from Lincoln to attend a concert and had been drinking.

The 29-year-old was identified after Humberside Police released CCTV footage of him filming the assault.

He pleaded guilty to a charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm during an appearance at .

David Eager, the 29-year-old's defence solicitor, had asked the judge to consider deferring his client's prison sentence so that Mr Mann could volunteer at a Lincolnshire homeless shelter.

Instead Mann was handed a prison sentence.

"If you truly want to show that you are sorry, when you leave prison, and when you come back from your best friend's wedding, then you can do volunteering," Judge Mark Bury said.

About the victims, he added: "They are homeless men. Homelessness is not a lifestyle choice, it is a necessity for these people.

Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events

"It is corrosive to both their lifestyle and their well-being. Your actions have showed a depressing lack of awareness to that fact. It is totally outrageous. You showed no empathy and awareness, and I have a public duty to show that this sort of behaviour, in a civilised society, cannot be tolerated."

The judge added that Mr Mann, unlike his victims, had "enough money to come from [his] home in Lincoln to Hull and enough money to drink far too much" and "would return to a warm bed at the end of his sentence."

A second man, Jamie Nickell, is due to appear in court later this week. He is accused of a single count of assault, occasioning actual bodily harm, in relation to the attack.

Additional reporting by Press Association

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in