WHAT should have been a family occasion at a christening party at the Royal Hotel in Barmouth, ended up with the licensee being assaulted and threatened and a glass being thrown at a barman.

Diane Williams, prosecuting, at Dolgellau court said that parts of the hotel had been allo­cated to a christening party on 25 October last year.

A member of staff spoke to the licensee, David Shaw, in the hotel toilets expressing concern about the way a local man was acting in the hotel’s beer garden.

Lee Corbett, 41, of 62 Heol y Llan, Barmouth then came out of one of the cubicles in the toilet and asked the hotel staff why they were “slagging him off”, the court heard.

The staff and Mr Shaw explained to Corbett that they were not talking about him, but about another person who was in the beer garden.

Corbett, however, did not believe them and grabbed Mr Shaw by the throat before he was pulled off.

Corbett then went after Mr Shaw into his private quarters and again grabbed him around the throat when his family and children were present.

Again, members of the public pulled Corbett off Mr Shaw.

Later, however, Corbett punched Mr Shaw in the face and threw a beer glass at the barman, narrowly missing him, but smashing the optics behind the bar.

Corbett had initially indicated to police that he would be pleading not guilty to assaulting Mr Shaw and to using threatening behaviour, but when shown the hotel CCTV footage, he changed his plea to guilty to both charges.

The crown prosecutor asked the magistrates to consider compensation and asked for an exclusion order preventing the def­endant from going to the Royal Hotel.

Duty solicitor Richard Williams, defending, said that his client was a full-time father as his wife was trying to set up a business in Barmouth.

Corbett, who had previous convictions for violence, had been out of trouble since 2011.

Mr Williams said that the family had hired the room and claimed that the staff were shouting at the children who were part of the party and this had caused tension.

He said that his client wished to apologise for his behaviour and put his actions down to drinking alcohol whilst on medication following a serious motorbike accident and receiving serious leg injuries.

The court chairman fined Corbett £120 for assault, £120 for threatening behaviour with £85 prosecution costs and £20 victim surcharge.

Corbett was ordered to pay £100 compensation to Mr Shaw and £50 for the damage caused at the hotel.