Judge asks: “With friends like these, who needs enemies?”

Saturday 28 May 2022

Two Jerseymen who were visiting Guernsey for a stag-do have been ordered to pay fines totalling £2,150.

Aaron Lambert and Jack White were charged with public disorder for fighting with each other. Lambert was also charged with assaulting a police officer, while White was also charged with possession of a controlled drug.

Both men pleaded guilty to the respective charges.

The co-defendants were in Guernsey over the long weekend at the beginning of May, with the incidents taking place on 6 May. Lambert and White, who are long-term friends, entered into a “heated discussion” outside the Randy Paddle, which escalated into “pushing and shoving”. 

Pictured: White was in possession of Pregabalin, a controlled Class C drug. 

The “public scuffle and brawl” ended and White and Lambert went their separate ways. Police attended the scene and subsequently located the two men with Lambert being found at the Weighbridge taxi rank and White at St Pierre Park Hotel. 

Lambert was described as having “reacted with violence” after a police officer, PC Bourgaize, took his cigarette from him. A scuffle ensued between Lambert and PC Bourgaize, during which PC Bourgaize discharged his PAVA spray, which incapacitates.

Lambert exercised his right to give no comment upon his arrest. 

Duty Advocate David Domaille said that the assault on PC Bourgaize had been at the “lower end” of the scale. He said that there has been “no intentional strikes” and the incident was mostly “pushing, pulling and grappling”.

Pictured: Lambert and White pleaded guilty to all charges and were ordered to pay fines. 

Judge Gary Perry noted that the use of PAVA spray is only permitted when “someone is out of control and the officer is losing control of the situation” and that threshold had been met in this case. 

Advocate Domaille further noted that Lambert had offered a “full apology” to the officers involved and to the court. 

“Mr Lambert’s apology letter is very full, and he deeply regrets his actions,” said Advocate Domaille. 

When White was located at St Pierre Park, where he was staying with Lambert, officers arresting White found him to be in possession of Pregabalin, a controlled Class C drug, for which he did not have a prescription.

Advocate Domaille said that White had been using the prescription medication for a knee injury for several years but that he had been “gifted” the medication by a friend in Guernsey.

Pictured: Lambert assaulted PC Bourgaize at the Weighbridge taxi rank on 6 May. 

Advocate Domaille said the two men are now “back to being good friends".

Judge Perry said: “With friends like these, who needs enemies?”

Judge Perry gave credit to both men for pleading guilty at the first opportunity and said he had taken account of Lambert’s apology letter and a reference provided by his employer. 

"You are not men of good character. Guernsey is a welcoming island and you have taken advantage of that," said Judge Perry.

Lambert and White were each fined £650 for the public disorder offences or 32 days' imprisonment on failure to pay the fines. 

Lambert was ordered to pay a further £400 in compensation to the police offer and given a three month sentence for assaulting him, which was suspended for two years. 

White was fined a further £450 for possession of the controlled drug or 22 days' imprisonment on failure to pay the fine. 

All fines were payable immediately and the men were granted permission to return to Jersey.