A court heard the victim was a tenant and there was an attempt to evict him
Ashley Clough admitted assault, causing actual bodily harm(Image: Humberside Police)
A menacing bully brutally attacked a “terrified” man with a dog chain after confronting him in his flat while he was asleep. The victim suddenly woke up in horror to find the attacker standing over him during what looked like a forced eviction, Hull Crown Court heard.
Ashley Clough, 36, of Ploughmans Gardens, Woodmansey, near Beverley, but recently in custody on remand, admitted assaulting the man, causing actual bodily harm, and Natalie Perrins, 45, of The Crescent, Bridlington, admitted affray on October 25, 2024. Clough also admitted racially aggravated assault on January 29 last year.
Maya Hanson, prosecuting, said that a man was, at the time, living in a flat at The Crescent as a tenant of Perrins. He was asleep in bed at about 5.30pm when he woke to find Clough, armed with a dog chain, standing over him.
Clough repeatedly hit him over the head and body with the chain, causing injuries. Perrins was removing the man’s belongings from the flat. The man was terrified and pleaded for the assault to stop.
Clough told Perrins to fetch a knife and she returned with a bread knife. The man believed his life was in danger. Clough pointed the knife towards him.
The man ran past Clough out of the bedroom and fled, wearing only his boxer shorts. He ran to the Hook and Parrot pub for help but he did not find any and he ran to a taxi office.
He was eventually helped by a member of the public at The Forum cinema. “The police were called,” said Miss Hanson.
Clough also called the police but he claimed that the man had attacked him and broken his arm and that he had raped Perrins but these claims were not true. The man was arrested on suspicion of rape but he was not charged with anything.
He later said: “What happened to me was unprovoked and took me completely by surprise. I was in bed and had no means of defending myself. At the time, I was terrified.” The whip blows from the dog chain were “incredibly painful” for him. “No one should be whipped,” he said. “You wouldn’t treat an animal this way.”
The separate second incident on January 29 last year involved Clough and a 41-year-old woman racially targeting a man who took a bus from Beverley after finishing work at his takeaway. The couple had an unruly dog with them.
They went up to the man, who was at the back of the bus, and hurled racial abuse at him. The woman put him in a headlock and forcefully punched him numerous times.
Clough punched him, it was claimed. “The incident ended by all parties coming off the bus,” said Miss Hanson. The woman had been given a four-month suspended prison sentence.
The man later said: “I felt scared for my life. I am now scared to even take the bus.”
Clough had convictions for 57 previous offences, including five involving assaults, and he had been jailed for six months in October last year for a matter involving racially aggravated threatening behaviour. Perrins had convictions for three previous offences, including assaulting an emergency worker.
Marc Luxford, mitigating, said that Clough had shown a degree of remorse and he was determined to address his offending behaviour and alcohol use. “He used alcohol as a coping strategy,” said Mr Luxford. There were references for him.
Clough followed the woman that he was with on the bus but he claimed that he only pushed the man. “He had been to a funeral and he had been drinking,” said Mr Luxford.
Michael Masson, representing Perrins, said that the reason she went to the flat was because of claims from other tenants that the man had been using drugs and behaving badly there. She played a significant and important part in what happened but not in causing the injuries.
She had been trying to evict the man and it was a “highway to trouble” that day. “There have been no further offences since that offence was committed in 2024,” said Mr Masson.
“She is deeply remorseful that she made the decisions that she did. She has made a significant mistake that had consequences for someone who was once a friend.”
Clough was jailed for two years and nine months. Perrins was given a six-month alcohol treatment order and 15 days’ rehabilitation.
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