Maidstone Crown Court, where Mr McArthur's case was heard

by Keith Hunt

A father suffered serious fractures to his face after he approached another parent at a school about his daughter being bullied, a court heard.

Alan Cook was floored by a single blow from James McArthur outside Sherwin Knight junior and infant school in Cedar Road, Strood.

But Mr McArthur, of Farm Hill Avenue, Rochester, was cleared of inflicting grievous bodily harm after claiming he acted in self-defence.

Maidstone Crown Court heard Mr Cook was on the school run on November 23 last year when he saw Mr McArthur, 26, in the corridor and told him his son kept hitting his daughter.

“I thought it would be a good time to be a responsible parent,” Mr Cook told the jury of eight men and four women.

“I had already taken the matter to teachers and nothing was happening."

Matters escalated, he told the court, when Mr McArthur grabbed his wrist during the confrontation.

“He just snarled at me. He said: ‘I will see you outside.’ I was in shock. We were in a room full of kids. I was thinking: This bloke wants to beat me up.

“He said: ‘You want to calm down mate.’ He grabbed my wrist. I brushed it off. Now, he is in my personal space. He is a bigger guy than me.

“I said: ‘Calm down? You are offering me out.’ I went to leave the building. Mr McArthur was somewhere behind me. I was trying to get out of this situation.

“I saw a teacher and said: ‘This is your fault. You should have nipped this in the bud.’

"The next thing I know I am raising myself up on my elbows in the damp grass in the grounds. My head was numb. I was seeing stars. I had been knocked out.

"I touched my face and my cheekbone wasn’t there. My face felt like it was not my own. Some parents saw it. They ushered me back into the building and I waited for an ambulance to arrive.”

He was taken to Medway Hospital and had to wait a week for surgery at the Queen Victoria Hospital in East Grinstead. His cheekbone and jaw were fractured and titanium plates and screws were inserted.

"i touched my face and my cheekbone wasn’t there. my face felt like it was not my own" – alan cook

Iestyn Morgan, prosecuting, said a mother at the school saw Mr Cook with his hands by his side with his palms facing out when Mr McArthur punched him.

She said she heard Mr McArthur say: “And that was with my left hand.”

She described him as being pleased with himself. Mr Cook, she added, had not made an aggressive move towards Mr McArthur.

Caretaker Keith Carlton, who was acting as a lollipop man, saw the two men arguing. He saw Mr McArthur hit Mr Cook. He heard Mr McArthur say several times: “I am going to ---- you up.”

James McArthur told the jury he urged Mr Cook to calm down and put his arm around him “in the friendliest gesture”.

He continued: “He didn’t accept it. He whacked my arm away from me. He said: ‘Do you want to have a fight outside?’ I said: ‘I don’t want to have a fight.’

“A teacher asked what was going on. He turned around and pointed his finger at her and said: ‘It’s your ------- fault that we have got to go outside and fight about this. You should have nipped it in the bud.’

“I wasn’t going outside for a fight. I hung back in the corridor because I was scared. I was heading for my girlfriend’s car. He was saying: ‘Let’s go outside and ------- have it.’

“I said: ‘I don’t want to go outside, I haven’t got a problem.’ I was walking towards the school gates. I said to a lady: ‘He is mental, he is mad.’

“Mr Cook was still waiting and goading me. He turned around and said: ‘I will ------- show you crazy.’ He come towards me. He put his arms out with a hostile face, not fists.

“I responded by defending myself by hitting. I used my left hand. I did it because it was a defence. I was just trying to defend myself because the whole situation was hostile.

“There was only one thing he could have possibly done - to attack me. His hands were raising towards me. I hit him before he touched me. I saw the man fall to the floor.

“I just panicked and walked back to the car. I didn’t say anything to the man.”
He added he could not remember saying: “That was with my left hand.”