Accrington funfair boss 'left girl seriously injured' (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Accrington funfair boss 'left girl seriously injured'

2:10pm Saturday 21st November 2009

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A FUNFAIR boss who left a teenage girl seriously injured after he was said to have ‘thrown’ her off his ride has walked free from the court.

The 16-year-old, from Accrington, broke her collar bone and right wrist at the hands of Bronson Cubbins when she fell two feet from the ride platform onto a concrete floor.

Burnley Crown Court heard the victim and her friends were said to have refused to leave when Cubbins wanted to close the ride The defendant claimed he had been abused and intimidated by the group who had called him a gypsy, spat at both he and his father and thrown stones causing damage.

Cubbins, 32, of Bag Lane, Atherton, had earlier admitted inflicting grievous bodily harm.

He was given 140 hours unpaid work with £200 costs and £500 compensation. He had no previous convictions.

Sentencing, Judge Simon Newell told the defendant the victim, who also suffered cuts and bruises to her face, hands and knees, must have been in a great deal of pain.

The judge said ordinarily people who caused such injuries in a criminal assault went to prison immediately, or received a suspended sentence but he had to sentence Cubbins on the basis of his guilty plea, agreed by the prosecution.

It would seem the defendant had been subjected to ‘intimidation, annoyance and harassment’, the judge said.

Judge Newell said the defendant had been entitled to shut his ride when he wanted.

However, he said: “You went over the top .You did not intend the injuries caused when she fell two feet from the ride to the ground."

David Macro, prosecuting, said Cubbins was the proprietor of Playstation Fun House, part of a mobile fair which at the time was on wasteland in Eagle Street, Accrington.

He would say he was closing the ride on April 4, told the victim and her group, but they refused to leave and climbed onto the platform at the ride entrance. He was abused and spat at, the court heard.

The prosecutor said the girl, who had decided to go on the defendant's ride about 9pm, recalled hitting the ground after feeling a pair of hands under her armpits and being lifted of her feet.

Philip Holden, for Cubbins, said he was a father-to-be, hard working and was of previous good character.

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