Debt row leads to toilet assault

A MAN was assaulted in public toilets at Ely when Mark Gillett tried to persuade him to pay off a debt. Robert Bailey was first subjected to a verbal attack, and was then pushed against a wall, city magistrates heard on Thursday. The incident started earl

A MAN was assaulted in public toilets at Ely when Mark Gillett tried to persuade him to pay off a debt.

Robert Bailey was first subjected to a verbal attack, and was then pushed against a wall, city magistrates heard on Thursday.

The incident started earlier in the day, when Mr Bailey arranged to borrow £10 from Susan Statham, explained prosecutor Matthew Bradbury. He met Ms Statham and some of her friends at the Paradise Sports Centre, and Gillett was there.

Gillett asked to have a word in private, and there was a confrontation between the two men over a debt, he said.

"Mr Bailey was anxious that things might get ugly, so he later telephoned Susan Statham, and asked to meet her by the toilets," said Mr Bradbury. "She agreed, but she was not alone."

At first, Bailey was involved in a physical confrontation with a person called Jamie, he said.

"After that, Mr Bailey gained his feet, and there was a verbal confrontation with Gillett, and that became a physical confrontation.

"Gillett assaulted Mr Bailey by pushing him against a wall; there was no injury sustained."

Solicitor Jacqui Baldwin told the court: "Other people may have been involved. But at the police station Gillett accepted he had pushed Mr Bailey, when others denied involvement."

Gillett was already subject to a community order that included both supervision by the probation service and unpaid community work.

Sentencing was adjourned until July 5 for a pre-sentence report to be prepared, and Gillett was given conditional bail.