My Big Fat Gypsy suspended sentence: C4 star Paddy Doherty walks free from court despite headbutting stepbrother in funeral punch-up

Paddy Doherty was involved in a punch up in a pub in north Wales

He headbutted his opponent, a fellow traveller, during heated row



Fight breached terms of suspended jail sentence, but he still walked free

Doherty was given a 6-month supervision order instead of jail time

He was also ordered to pay £85 in costs, and given restraining order

Claimed his opponent and step brother, Douglas McDonagh, goaded him

Judge said at 55 he was 'too old' to keep getting into pub brawls



Big Fat Gypsy Wedding and Celebrity Big Brother star Paddy Doherty arrives with his wife at Manchester Crown Court to be sentenced over GBH charges

The star of Channel 4's My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding has walked free from court after admitting he headbutted his stepbrother.



Paddy Doherty, 55, breached the terms of a suspended jail sentence when he committed the assault at a pub in Flintshire, north Wales, last October.

The 2011 winner of Celebrity Big Brother had previously been handed a 31-week jail term, suspended for two years, in January 2012, after he brawled in the street with a fellow traveller.

Former bare-knuckle boxing champion Doherty, 55, head-butted Douglas McDonagh during a heated row that involved another step-brother.

The trio had attended a family funeral together and were at a wake at the Melrose pub in Shotton, north Wales, when the mood suddenly turned violent.

Manchester Crown Court heard how an argument broke out between Doherty and Mr McDonagh, over why Mr McDonagh had not invited his brother, Martin, to his daughter’s wedding.

A CCTV film showed the Celebrity Big Brother star lunging forward and head-butting him twice, knocking him to the floor.

Co-defendent Martin McDonagh, 52, had initially acted as peacemaker and tried to protect his brother Douglas, but then intervened and punched him three times, knocking him to the ground again.

The incident happened on October 30, just a few miles from the caravan park home that Doherty shares with his wife.

As a result, Douglas McDonagh suffered a four-inch cut above his left eye and cuts to his right eye and ear.

Doherty and Martin McDonagh, of the Riverside Caravan Park, Queensferry, admitted a charge of assault when they appeared before Flintshire magistrates in January.

Big Fat Gypsy Wedding and Celebrity Big Brother star Paddy Doherty leaves court a free man following his sentencing for headbutting his step-brother. Paddy is seen with his wife Rosanne and daughter Margaret leaving Manchester Crown Court

David Doherty (centre), Patrick Doherty's son with Patrick behind. (Right) Patrick with wife Rosanne, entering the court



The court heard that Doherty’s offence breached a suspended 24-month jail term that he was handed in January 2012 for a street brawl with his cousin Johnny Joyce, 21.

Judge Michael Henshell gave Doherty a 6-month supervision order, ordered him to pay £85 costs and imposed a three year restraining order preventing him from contacting McDonagh.

Sentencing him at Manchester Crown Court, the Judge told Doherty that he was 'too old' to be appearing before the courts for fighting in pubs.

However, he said that he did not believe it was necessary to send him to prison today and he imposed a six-month supervision order.



Martin McDonagh arriving at Manchester Crown Court for the sentencing for breach of suspended sentence for his step-brother for the assault of his brother

Defending, Mark Rhind passed a letter to the judge from the victim in which he admitted he had provoked both of the assailants, saying he was 'eight out of 10 drunk'.



Mr Rhind said: 'What happens is that all the protagonists in this incident are having a drink.



'There appears to be no sign of trouble, then there is an incident where Mr Doherty headbutts Douglas McDonagh twice.

'Martin McDonagh keeps them apart and gets a cloth and wipes Douglas’s face and thereafter there appears to be an exchange of words and then Martin McDonagh strikes Douglas three times.

'Thereafter the incident is over.'

Mr Rhind said Douglas had admitted 'deliberately goading' the pair into a reaction by 'using specific insults designed to provoke.

'He has got through 21 of the 24 months (the suspended term), not through just completing the sentence but by positively reacting to that sentence.'

Doherty was brought into the witness box before the judge sentenced him as he said he could not hear him from the dock.

Judge Henshell told him: 'You are now aged 55. You are too old to be coming back before the courts for fighting in pubs when emotions are raised - partly through drink, partly because of the occasion after a funeral and partly because you were provoked.

'You had successfully almost completed the sentence which was imposed by this court.



Pub brawl: The fight happened at the Melrose in Shotton, Flintshire, last October, the court was told

'Bearing in mind all I have read about you and heard about you, I do not believe it is necessary to send you to prison today.'



Speaking outside court Doherty, standing with his wife Roseanne and son David, said: 'I am pretty happy with what the judge said.'

Previously: Paddy Doherty (left) and his step-brother Martin McDonagh who both attacked their brother (and step-brother) Douglas McDonagh in a pub at a wake

He claimed Douglas McDonough had deliberately started a fight to try to get £30,000 cash out of him.

His solicitor Michael Sopholeous added: 'Paddy is upset that his brother brought it to court.

'It was a family dispute and should have been dealt with in the family.

Doherty with Sally Bercow and Ken Livingstone: The court heard there had been jealousy over the success enjoyed by some members of the family while others were struggling to get by

Success: Doherty leaving the Big Brother house after being named winner of Celebrity Big Brother in 2011

'He’s happy with the result and just wants to move on with his life.'

Doherty received his suspended sentence for his part in a grudge fight in public with Johnny Joyce when he was challenged to a brawl amid an ongoing feud.

He was jogging in Ancoats, Manchester, in June 2011 when Joyce came across him and sank his teeth into Doherty's left ear and bit off the top part of it.

Early days: Doherty in a grab from My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding, the television series in which he first became famous

The tussle was filmed by on a mobile phone by Joyce's brother.