Man who punched 80-year-old in Rochdale in unprovoked attack jailed
- Published
Joshua Greenwood beat one man so severely he needed corrective facial surgery
A 27-year-old who punched an 80-year-old man "as hard as he could in the face" and left another man with life-changing injuries has been jailed.
Joshua Greenwood, of Lee Road in Bacup, hit a man, fracturing his eye-socket, cheekbone and jaw outside a bar on a night out in Rochdale in November 2021.
He later attacked another man and his elderly father in the town's centre, in February 2022.
Greenwood was sentenced to two years and eight months in jail.
He pleaded guilty to two offences of causing grievous bodily harm and one offence of causing actual bodily harm.
Det Con Russell Clarke, of Greater Manchester Police, said Greenwood was a man of "significant size" who "punched as hard as he could" and showed "absolutely no consideration for the consequences of his actions".
'Laughing and dancing'
On 26 November 2021, Greenwood's first victim had been on a night out in Rochdale before the defendant attacked him so severely he needed corrective facial surgery, the trial was told.
Minshull Street Crown Court heard the victim had yet to recover from his injuries, and Greenwood was later seen "laughing and dancing on the dance-floor".
A man and his 80-year-old father were also attacked by Greenwood and another man at about 22:00 GMT on Packer Street in the town, in February 2022.
Greenwood punched the octogenarian in the face and caused him to fall and hit his head on the street, before the defendant and the other man attacked the son while he tried to help his father, jurors were told.
Greenwood was later arrested by police, while the other man involved in the second attack pleaded guilty and was fined.
The court heard how Greenwood had told others he "always ended up in town and wanting to punch someone's head off", but tried to claim to police he was a "peacemaker".
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