October 24, 2006 11:28

Les Incompetents attacker jailed

Eight months for man who left Billy Leeson in coma

Les Incompetents singer Billy Leeson’s attacker has been jailed for eight months.

New Zealander Christian Briggs, 30, left the frotnman in a coma after the attack in Islington, north London, in June.

But in a further twist to the drama, the attacker – who admitted to grievous bodily harm – was a peace activist who had acted as a human shield in Iraq.

Snaresbury Crown Court heard how Briggs attacked Leeson after an altercation on a bus. Leeson’s girlfriend had complained that Briggs was staring at her, and that Leeson had asked him to “look elsewhere”.

On leaving the bus, Briggs followed Leeson and punched him “without warning,” according to the BBC. The attack left him in a coma, with part of the front of his skull removed to relieve pressure on his brain, and undergoing a tracheotomy to ease breathing. He was in hospital for six weeks, and had to learn how to walk again.

Judge Peter Birts QC told Briggs he had expressed “genuine remorse,” but that a prison sentence was inevitable. A former Green Party candidate, Briggs had spent three weeks in Iraq with the Truth Justice Peace Human Shield Action Group in 2003, protesting against the invasion.

Meanwhile, Les Incompetents play their last-ever gig on November 7 at London’s 100 Club. The band say that their decision to move onto other projects was not related to Leeson’s attack.