A judge has criticised a couple over their ‘appalling’ assault of two publicans and their staff after a Christmas dinner.
Nathan and Catherine Sayer, aged 50 and 54 respectively, were both found guilty of assault and religiously aggravated harassment after they abused staff at The New Inn in Hook, Hampshire in December 2023.
But during the trial, district judge Stephen Apted accused the couple of appearing ‘pleased with themselves’ and interrupted their sentencing hearing to tell them to stop laughing at the prosecutor’s summary of their offending.
He said: ‘I don’t know why you two sit there laughing, shaking your heads.
‘You two have behaved in this way throughout this trial, I simply don’t understand why you sit laughing and shaking your heads at what you hear.
‘You fail to understand and appreciate how appalling and disgraceful your behaviour was.’
During the hearing at Basingstoke Magistrates Court, the court the incident happened as the wealthy couple attended a Christmas dinner at the pub with members of a horse riding club.
Prosecutors said the couple were seen throwing food and festive crackers around during the event. At closing time, they became angry when told they could not ‘get the beers in’ after Nathan returned to retrieve a scarf he had left and Catherine asked for a drink.
When they were refused, an altercation broke out, with pub owner Laura Faulkner and three employees of The New Inn ushering the couple out of the venue.
Catherine was then accused of grabbing Laura’s shirt and swearing at her. She was also accused of beating her husband Thomas around the head as they were ejected.
Thomas then started recording a video on his phone of the incident, which was played to the court.
The court heard that Nathan then subjected a member of staff to religious abuse, which included calling him ‘Mustafa’ and ‘Sheikh Mohammed’.
However the staff member had just come back from Australia with a tan, the District Judge was told.
Nathan claimed the staff were the aggressors and his wife was pushed around ‘like bowling ball’. He said he and his wife were followed out of the pub by what he described as a ‘lynch mob’.
When asked by Prosecutor Ryan Seneviratne if he had acted reasonably, the company director said he had ‘acted like a man’. He also accused the landlord of acting like the ‘Instagram police’.
He said: ‘They have taken some modern narrative and tried to force it. It was just random names, I didn’t know the origins of Mustafa.
‘The reason we did not call the police is that we did not want playground nonsense, they [the landlords] tried to drag it into some sexual or race position.’
He added: ‘These are staff that claim to be scared and anxious, they chose to leave the pub to chase us into the foyer.
‘These are people that are actively seeking conflict, I personally was assaulted three times.
‘If I was from any business with responsibility for my staff I would not have them follow everyone out as a lynch mob.
‘My first instinct would be to protect my staff, not get my phone out to be an Instagram policeman.’
Catherine’s defence lawyer, Alphonsus Doran, said her client had lost her job following the incident and her husband had suffered a ‘massive impact’ on the business.
They have been ‘effectively ostracised’ since, Doran said.
The couple were spared jail, but received a 12-month community order and both were ordered to complete 150 hours of unpaid work and 15 rehabilitation sessions.
Nathan was fined £1,204. During the trial, he told the judge that he and his wife were the real victims.
Catherine, who was reported to be ‘petrified’ of prison, was fined £1,554 and was seen laughing following her sentence.
Metro has approached pub staff for comment.
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