Jade Goody's boyfriend jailed after golf club assault
Monday, 01 Sep 2008 16:24
Former Celebrity BB contestant Jack Tweed jailed for 18 months
Former Celebrity Big Brother contestant Jack Tweed has been jailed for 18 months after being found guilty of assaulting a boy with a golf club.
Tweed, boyfriend of reality TV star Jade Goody, was given the sentence at Chelmsford crown court over a 2006 attack on Daniel Steele, now 18.
He and friend James Mattock, 29, both denied assault but were each sentenced to 18 months, nine of which they will serve in jail before being released on licence.
Tweed's lawyer Andre de Moller has asked that the judge suspend his sentence as his girlfriend Goody has been diagnosed with cervical cancer.
"It is advanced and life threatening," he said.
"She's due to undergo an operation in two weeks' time and is likely to be on chemotherapy. Jack Tweed lives with her. He supports her and helps care for her two sons."
However, after prosecutors claimed that the co-defendants had been "teaching a lesson" to the victim, judge recorder Mark Lucraft QC passed the 18-month sentences.
He characterised the attack as "a frightening scene and a traumatic experience".
"You went, it seems to me, with one purpose - to attack and to have a fight," he continued.
"Hitting someone about the head with a weapon is an extremely dangerous thing to do."