By Alan CocksedgeA LEADING restaurateur will be paid £400 in compensation after he was attacked at one of his establishments.The payment was ordered against Colin Rundle after he pleaded guilty yesterday to assaulting Craig Jarvis outside one of the three restaurants he runs in Suffolk.

By Alan Cocksedge

A LEADING restaurateur will be paid £400 in compensation after he was attacked at one of his establishments.

The payment was ordered against Colin Rundle after he pleaded guilty yesterday to assaulting Craig Jarvis outside one of the three restaurants he runs in Suffolk.

Mr Jarvis had earlier apprehended a friend of Rundle's for stealing a bottle of wine from his Black Lion hotel and restaurant business in Long Melford.

Rundle, 26, of Haverhill Close, Steeple Bumpstead, was fined £350 for the attack and made the subject of a 12-month exclusion order from all licensed premises run by Mr Jarvis - which include Tuddenham Mill and Ravenwood Hall hotel and restaurant in Rougham.

He was fined a further £25 for admitting damaging a cell pillow in Sudbury police station.

Rundle appeared before Mildenhall magistrates yesterday with James King, 20, of Edith Cavell Way, Steeple Bumpstead, who admitted stealing wine from the Black Lion and was fined £50.

Charles Riddlestone, prosecuting, said King had entered the Black Lion some time after 11 pm on November 1, but staff had refused to serve him.

He decided to steal a bottle of wine and that led to him being ejected from the premises by Mr Jarvis.

King later returned with Rundle and there was a fracas by the front steps of the hotel, which ended with Mr Jarvis on the ground and being attacked by Rundle.

Mr Jarvis was taken to hospital suffering from a number of injuries, including a dislocated shoulder, pains to his body, a cut lip and his face covered in blood.

Mr Riddlestone said the prosecution could not say that Rundle had caused all the injuries sustained by Mr Jarvis, and the victim had told the police it would cost £400 to repair his watch.

Rebekah Korniga said King, who was unemployed, had acted foolishly and out-of-character in taking the wine, and deeply regretted the incident.

The court heard Rundle, who managed a warehouse in Haverhill, had initially intervened because he had thought King was getting the worse of a confrontation with Mr Jarvis on the steps of the hotel.

After the hotelier and King fell down the steps, Rundle was no longer acting in a defensive manner to break up an incident and landed blows on Mr Jarvis.

Rundle later tore up a cell pillow because he was angry officers had taken no notice of his plea for medication because he was suffering from epilepsy.

Speaking after the case, Mr Jarvis described the incident as a “dangerous assault”.

He added: “The incident underlined the need for staff of licensed premises to be vigilant in the way they try to handle troublemakers and how they must look after the safety of themselves, as well as that of their customers.”