Jealous man jailed for vodka bottle attack in nightclub

A jealous man has been imprisoned after launching a violent bottle attack on a stranger whose only “crime” was having a conversation with his former partner in a Swansea nightclub.

Craig Cole launched his brutal assault at Plan B nightclub off The Kingsway on New Year’s Eve 2024, striking his unsuspecting victim repeatedly over the head with a vodka bottle in what a judge described as an act of “insecure, sexual jealousy”.

The incident unfolded when the victim encountered Cole’s ex-girlfriend on the stairs of the club and stopped to talk to her. The casual conversation proved enough to trigger a violent response from the 27-year-old defendant, who appeared moments later and confronted the man.

Despite several women positioning themselves between the two men to prevent trouble, Cole pulled a vodka bottle from his pocket and reached over them to strike his victim multiple times to the head. When a security guard attempted to intervene, Cole pushed him aside before delivering another blow to the back of his victim’s head as the man tried to walk away from the confrontation.

The assault left the victim with four open wounds to the top of his head, with the largest requiring medical glue to close. Hospital staff treated the injuries after the man was taken for emergency care. The victim later told the court he could remember little of the attack except seeing the bottle coming towards him before receiving first aid at the club.

In a statement read to Swansea Crown Court, the victim revealed he was struggling to process what had happened to him. He said the thought that the outcome could have been a lot worse “is something that stays with me”.

Cole, of Pen-y-Bryn, Ystradgynlais, handed himself in to Swansea Central police station a week after the incident but answered “no comment” to all questions during his interview.

The court heard this wasn’t Cole’s first offence involving jealousy over an ex-partner. He has six previous convictions for nine offences including criminal damage and common assault. In a previous incident, he threw a brick through a window and struck another man on the foot in circumstances also involving a former girlfriend.

Defence barrister Andrew Evans told the court that whilst there could be no justification for Cole’s actions, the situation in the club had been “charged” and the “combination of jealousy, being ‘disrespected’, and the consumption of alcohol” had led to the defendant’s violent outburst. In a pre-sentence report, Cole had described the incident as “10 seconds of madness” which had changed his life. The court also heard from a former employer who vouched for Cole’s good work ethic.

However, Judge Paul Thomas KC was unimpressed with the excuses. He told Cole the injuries could have been far worse, noting the victim could easily have lost an eye in the bottle attack. The judge delivered a scathing assessment of the defendant’s behaviour, telling him that even in his mid-20s he suffered from “an excess of insecure, sexual jealousy” and had attacked the complainant “simply because he had the temerity to talk to your ex-partner”.

Judge Thomas added that Cole needed to grow up and realise women could talk to and see whoever they choose, and were not his property.

Cole pleaded guilty to wounding with intent and received a one-quarter discount on his sentence for the early plea. He was sentenced to 30 months in prison and will serve up to half the sentence in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community.