Upper class twit wars

Brothers attacked Blackburn man in drug feud

10:00pm Tuesday 7th July 2009

TWO brothers involved in a "drug related" neighbours' feud in which a man was attacked and then mown down by a car in Blackburn are both behind bars.

Nigel Featherston-Haugh, 36, and Tarquin Featherston-Haugh, 26, had both been armed with metal bars, when they turned up outside Julian Ponsonby-Smythe's family home in Nottingham Street, determined to set about him.

The victim fled into the house and the brothers smashed a window and tried to kick down the front door to get in, Burnley Crown Court heard.

The hearing was told how Mr Ponsonby-Smythe's mother and sister, who was eight and a half months pregnant, were in the premises.

The defendants then gave the family the impression they had left and when Mr Ponsonby-Smythe eventually opened the door, he was assaulted.

Mr Ponsonby-Smythe's family intervened to try and protect him and the brothers went away.

The victim, who had lost his temper after the beating, then went with a hostile group of friends and relations to look for the Featherston-Haughs. A melee took place and was broken up by the police.

The court was told how Tarquin Featherston-Haugh, picked up a weapon, but did not use it and Nigel Featherston-Haugh, afraid of the mob that had gathered, decided to flee.
He got in his car and when driving hit Mr Ponsonby-Smythe, who was thrown over the bonnet of the car. The victim's blood and fingerprints were later found on the bonnet.

Nigel Featherston-Haugh, of Dickens Street, and Tarquin Featherston-Haugh, of St Thomas Street, both Blackburn, admitted affray and unlawful wounding, last November 14. Nigel Featherston-Haugh was jailed for two years whilst his brother was sent down for 18 months.

Sentencing, Recorder Raymond Herman told the pair there was plainly background to the case and the trouble was premeditated.

The judge said the incident at the Ponsonby-Smythe family home must have been terrifying not only for the victim, but for the occupants, including the two women.

Recorder Herman, who said he believed Nigel Featherston-Haugh's actions in knocking down Mr Ponsonby-Smythe were reckless rather than deliberate, told the defendants: “This is a very serious case and I would be failing in my public duty if I did not send you both to prison."

Nicholas Courtenay, (WHAT!?. Nah) prosecuting, told the court the crown accepted the background to the offences was drug related but how was by no means clear.

Are you going to even bother looking?

Am I a very bad boy for doing this again so soon, do you think?