A drunken university student who was banned from every pub in the country due to his habit of biting bouncers has avoided jail.
University student Jack Higgins-Burnett was prohibited from entering any pub, bar or nightclub in England and Wales for six months after a spate of assaults using his teeth.
Within weeks of the ban being lifted, he was arrested again for biting a male member of staff on the cheek and thumb.
At the time, the 21-year-old was still the subject of a suspended sentence for the previous attack in September 2023, when he bit a member of security staff at Bar SO in Bournemouth on the hand and breast.
He also carried out a similar attack in a nightclub in Guernsey in October 2022, when he was thrown out of Folies nightclub and denied re-entry.
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A group of off-duty police officers had observed his behaviour and when they stepped in to arrest him he bit one officer on the neck.
The latest incident happened after he got into a fight in Cameo nightclub in Bournemouth on October 3, 2024.
As door staff removed him from the club, Higgins-Burnett bit Andrew Drakeley on the cheek and then his thumb, drawing blood, and refused to let go until he was restrained by other bouncers.
The court heard he had ‘no recollection’ of the incident but admitted causing actual bodily harm.
Prosecutor Robert Salame told magistrates in Poole: ‘Police were called as a male had assaulted a member of door staff at Cameo in Bournemouth.
‘When they arrived, some door staff and security were restraining the defendant. There was a fight involving two males. A member of the door staff had been bitten by the defendant on the cheek and on his right thumb. Both bites drew blood.
‘With the thumb, he refused to let go until he was restrained by other members of staff.’
Kevin Hill, defending, said Higgins-Burnett, who is studying finance at Bournemouth University, accepts he displays ‘impulsive behaviour’ when drunk.
Hill said: ‘His family have travelled to support him. His father is desperately concerned about his son.
‘He has very significantly reduced his alcohol abuse. He does still occasionally drink but not to the point where he is getting drunk.
‘He is exceedingly anxious about this. He’s about to go into his third year at university and is doing much better. I urge you to see if this is someone who can be turned around and realise the potential his father speaks of.’
Chair of the bench Richard Ball told Higgins-Burnett: ‘Under normal circumstances, anybody committing further offences during the term of a suspended sentence would find themselves immediately sent to prison.
‘I hope you realise how close you have come. This is the second similar offence within the space of 18 months. You need to think very carefully about your future behaviour, but you’re not going to prison today.’
They handed Higgins-Burnett, of Sarisbury Green, Fareham, Hampshire, a nine-month jail term suspended for 18 months.
They also ordered him to carry out 120 days of an alcohol abstinence monitoring service, 30 rehabilitation days and pay Mr Drakeley £500 compensation.
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