Gloating shoplifter left Leeds Lidl manager with life-threatening brain injury after blindside punch
A violent shoplifter left a supermarket manager deaf with a serious brain injury after a single blow when he confronted him for stealing.
The Lidl worker approached teenager Ryan Milner and his pal when they were loading items into a bag at the store in Woodlesford.
Milner landed the single punch outside the entrance of the Aberford Road shop, then gloated over the man, boasting that he was a boxer as his pal filmed it on his phone.
The man was left motionless on the pavement with blood seeping from his head. He suffered a bleed to the brain and a fractured skull. He has been left deaf in his right ear and doctors say it is unlikely his hearing would return.
Milner had entered the shop with a pal at around 2.20pm on July 23, Leeds Crown Court heard.
He was approached by staff who suspected they had been stealing. He was asked to show the contents of a bag he was carrying.
Milner became verbally abusive, which a witness shopper filmed on their mobile phone.
His bag was pulled from him in a tussle, and it was full of meat products and sweets among other stolen items.
The 19-year-old and his friend were ushered out of the door, but continued to push and shove the shift manager who saw them out.
Footage from the shop’s CCTV was played to the court which showed Milner then step up and land a heavy blow the worker’s head, knocking him out immediately.
A witness later told police he “fell down very stiff like a plank of wood”.
He crashed to the ground, striking his head on the hard floor. Milner was heard to shout: “That’s what you get. I’m a boxer and can do that to any of you.”
An ambulance was called as the victim drifted in and out of consciousness and was vomiting.
Medical staff said his condition was life threatening at that time. He was transported to Leeds General Infirmary for specialist treatment.
An ACT scan showed he had suffered a traumatic brain injury. He later suffered a blood clot in his neck.
He reported having slow eye movements, along with dizziness and vomiting, prosecutor Beatrice Allsop told the court.
More than two months later, he has still not returned to work and said the incident had a “devastating impact” on his life.
Milner, of no fixed address, was arrested on July 29 and was identified by the victim and another person in a video ID.
Milner gave a no-comment interview to officers. He has 10 previous convictions for 25 offences , including multiple for violence, affray and shoplifting.
He admitted Section 20 GBH without intent and theft.
Mitigating, Michael Walsh told the court: “The defendant knows he has put himself in an extremely difficult position.
“There’s absolutely no excuse and the two months he has spent in custody has given him an opportunity to reflect.
“He said he had not thought through what could happen.”
Mr Walsh said that Milner could be handed a suspended sentence, but Judge Robin Mairs said it had to be custody.
He pointed to the number of chances Milner had been given from his previous violent offending.
He said: “The courts have strained every sinew to keep you from custody and afforded you every opportunity to work with the probation service.
“Every single time it has been thrown back in the face of the courts.
“You went there to shoplift. It was a cheap, cowardly shot. He offered you no violence whatsoever and you struck him without provocation.
“The blow was of such ferocity that it knocked him unconscious immediately.
“Your reaction to that was to revel in what you had done. While he laid there lifeless with blood seeping from the back of his head, your accomplice filmed it.
“You revelled in the sheer enjoyment of your violence. It must have been an utterly terrifying time for him and his family. He could have easily died.”
He afforded Milner credit for his early guilty plea and gave him three years’ detention in a young offender institute.
He was also given a lifelong restraining order to keep him away from the victim.