A DJ who filmed himself urinating on a cancer patient in a social club has been told to expect an immediate jail term. A judge issued the warning to Leigh Brookfield ahead of a sentencing hearing on Thursday for his sick assault on an elderly man. You can read what happened to Brookfield on Thursday here.
Last month, Brookfield pleaded guilty to assaulting Peter Barton on Boxing Day in Llanelli Tennis and Squash Club. Llanelli Magistrates' Court heard Mr Barton was standing next to the 40-year-old DJ at the urinals and speaking about his prostate cancer diagnosis when Brookfield said "sorry to hear that bud" and urinated on the back of the victim's trousers. Brookfield, a regular DJ at Llanelli venues for around 15 years, posted a video of the incident on Snapchat.
The DJ, of Dan Y Lan in Felinfoel, was initially meant to be sentenced on Wednesday. As the hearing started, District Judge Mark Layton revealed he had received a letter from Brookfield, saying he wanted to change his lawyer. The court heard Brookfield had tried to transfer legal aid to a new solicitor's firm, which had rejected the case.
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Steven John, his original solicitor, told the court it had been "decided" on Monday that he would no longer be representing Brookfield. Judge Layton then asked: "So the solicitor-client relationship has broken down to the point you can't continue to act?" Mr John replied that the relationship had "finished", adding: "I'm very aware I don't want anything to impinge upon the perceived fairness of this case, even if it's from Mr Brookfield's perspective, so that's probably as far as I can take it."
Judge Layton turned to three other solicitors who were in court at the time but all said they would not be taking the case. The judge then said to Brookfield: "I'll adjourn to tomorrow but please understand I will not be adjourning it further. The advice I'm sure you've had is you can expect an immediate custodial sentence."
Brookfield said he would try to find a new lawyer ahead of the hearing, to which the judge replied: "We will be proceeding tomorrow even if you're unrepresented." The prosecutor said she opposed the case being adjourned, but Judge Layton responded: "I have to bear in mind the fact this defendant is unrepresented and has never had a custodial sentence, so we will adjourn to tomorrow."
In a Facebook post from the night of the assault, Mr Brookfield wrote: "It's just something me and the boys do when we are drunk, and until watching the video back I didn't realise that the nice gentleman next to me was going through health problems." He later told WalesOnline he was "absolutely paralytically drunk" when the incident happened. He added: "My hand on my heart, I was not aware of what the gentleman was saying to me. I was crying watching what I did."
The DJ said it was meant to be his "last hurrah" drinking session before his partner gives birth early this year. When we asked if he had done anything similar in the past, he replied: "It's something me and the boys have done over the years amongst each other." Asked if he had done it to strangers in the past, he said: "We've been abroad and done it and the whole pub has been doing it in Benidorm, something stupid like that. That's not something I would do to a stranger, personally. I don't know what the hell I was thinking, I was just out of it." You can read the full interview here.
