Plymouth no go as stag reveller injured

Victims of weekend drunken violence in a city centre are to be treated in a permanent "field hospital" to relieve congestion in a hospital casualty unit, and to try to improve detection rates.


Police in Plymouth are opening the field hospital in a building in the Union Street clubland area of the city from the end of this month.

The announcement coincided with a warning by a judge in Bournemouth that binge-drink offenders would face substantial jail sentences, as there was "far too much of this sort of behaviour".

Victims of violence in Plymouth are taken to Derriford Hospital at present. But they often clog up the casualty unit and police cannot investigate attacks quickly.

The field hospital will be staffed by police and medical personnel from 11pm to 4am on Friday and Saturday nights. This will enable victims to be given immediate medical treatment and also be interviewed while evidence and memories were still fresh.

The unit will operate for the "foreseeable future" until at least the New Year.

The Plymouth police commander, Morris Watts, said: "It's early days, but the theory is that it will help improve detection rates and give a better service to victims of crime.

"From a health perspective, it will stop ambulances from being tied up and reduce through-put at the casualty unit, which has to be good."

Judge Roger Jarvis jailed two men at Bournemouth Crown Court for separate drunken and unprovoked attacks, expressing his concern that he had two binge drinking cases on his list in the same day.

Jailing Gary Samson, 22, for eight months, the judge said: "Substantial sentences are justified for binge drinking offences. This activity causes real anxiety and distress to ordinary members of the public."

The court heard that Samson, a father of two, attacked a stag night reveller. His victim sustained an eye injury and sought refuge in a fast food restaurant.

Samson, of Bournemouth, who admitted assault, was also ordered to pay £250 in compensation.

The court heard the second offender, Harold Robinson, 22, a father of one, drank 15 pints of lager and several spirit shots before punching a man who had helped him to his feet when he stumbled.

Jailing him for a year, Judge Jarvis said: "This sort of behaviour must be dealt with in a way that discourages others."

Robinson, of Poole, Dorset, who admitted assault, was also ordered to pay his victim £250 compensation.