Salesman seeks new career after brawl with Toyota and Suzuki dealership colleagues

A salesman who brawled with colleagues at Ron Brooks Toyota and Suzuki in Mansfield and threatened to return with a shotgun has received a suspended prison sentence.

John Thompson had admitted two charges of assault at an earlier hearing and appeared back before the town's magistrates last week to be sentenced to eight weeks imprisonment for each charge, suspended for 18 months.

He had also admitted resisting arrest and possession of cannabis, and was also ordered to carry out unpaid work in the community and to attend rehabilitation sessions.

In an earlier hearing, magistrates were told the brawl occured after "ongoing banter" about a Liverpool FC sticker on October 24, and Thompson lost his temper and started the brawl at the car dealership on Oak Tree Lane in Mansfield.

One colleague was shoved and punched in the mouth and another was smacked in the head, breaking his glasses.

The prosecution said Thompson, aged 51, of Inkersall Green Road, Inkersall, had shouted: "I will take you all and smash your faces in. I will bring a shotgun at 5pm."

Thompson was stopped by police on a nearby road but he resisted arrest. Cannabis was found at his home.

Magistrates were told the father of two had been affected by pressures on his family life and was still grieving the death of his own father at the time of the incident.

Having lost his job following the assault, Thompson hopes to start a new career driving trucks.