A MAN has been given a custodial sentence of 10 years and eight months, with an extended five years’ licence period, after smashing a bottle in the face and eyes of former Leeds Rhinos academy player Matthew Syron.
Gareth Dean, 37, smashed a bottle in the face of Syron while in Leeds city centre bar, Revolucion de Cuba, on 27 December.
Dean appeared at Leeds Crown Court via video-link back in February, with the 37-year-old admitting one charge of grievous bodily harm. He was sentenced today, the Yorkshire Evening Post has revealed.
Dean admitted causing GBH with intent. He has 10 previous convictions for 15 offences, including GBH with intent in 2010, when he was part of a group that beat a man unconscious with a pool cue in a pub, for which he received four-and-a-half year jail sentence.
He was then jailed again for 28 months in 2017 after admitting GBH without intent, for punching a man twice and fracturing his cheek bone.
Mitigating on Dean’s behalf, Michael Levy said: “This, on any view, is an absolutely atrocious and appalling incident. A number of lives have been tragically changed forever in just a few seconds.
“It’s difficult to feel any sympathy for my client, he is clearly the author of his own misfortune. It was fuelled by alcohol and drugs, which is sadly often the case.”
Syron needed emergency surgery that night to remove the glass from his eyes, with further surgery helping him to see light in his right eye.
The 32-year-old came through Leeds Rhinos’ academy before playing seven times professionally for Oldham in the 2012 season. He moved to Australia later that year, where he still resides with his fiancée and two children.
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