'Bully' chef at Yorkshire gastropub who shot his baker in the face jailed for two-and-a-half years

Brad Tristan Plummer, 25, fired the gas-powered ball-bearing gun at Aidan Corbyn at their workplace, the Nelson Inn gastro pub in Killinghall, near Harrogate.

The metal ball bearing lodged in Mr Corbyn’s left eye and he was taken to hospital for an operation to remove the bullet, but his loss of vision would be for life, York Crown Court heard.

Plummer admitted inflicting grievous bodily harm but denied possessing a firearm with intent to cause Mr Corbyn fear of violence during the incident, which a judge described as “dreadful”.

In July, a jury found him not guilty of the second count, but he was remanded in custody to await sentence for GBH.

Prosecutor Howard Shaw said Mr Corbyn was busy at work in the kitchen when Plummer walked in and announced in a “bragging” way that he had an air pistol.

Plummer started pointing the pistol at Mr Corbyn’s face, “pretending to shoot him”.

At that stage, it appeared that Plummer had the safety catch on, but Mr Corbyn was so worried he tried to get away from him. However, his boss followed him, “laughing and joking and pointing the gun at Mr Corbyn”.

Things turned uglier when Plummer “rested” the pistol on Mr Corbyn’s face for about five seconds and then pointed it at him “from a distance of about one metre”.

“He pointed the gun straight at his face (and) the air pistol discharged,” said Mr Shaw. “Aidan Corbyn was shot in his left eye, the ball bearing lodging in his eye, effectively blinding him.”

He said Mr Corbyn was “scared” of Plummer, who was one of four bosses at the pub.

Mr Corbyn, who was 18 at the time, said he was “miserable” at work due to Plummer’s bullying behaviour towards him and that he made several job applications because he wanted to leave the pub business.

A waitress who witnessed the incident, which occurred at about 12 noon on September 29, 2020, said she saw Plummer “pointing the gun” at Mr Corbyn and resting it on his forehead for “five-to-10 seconds”.

Plummer, who lived at the pub on Skipton Road, was arrested and told police he thought the air pistol wasn’t loaded when he shot Mr Corbyn. The prosecution accepted he wouldn’t have known there was a ball bearing inside the gun chamber.

At the sentence hearing today (Thursday, August 18), Mr Shaw said Plummer had been “bullying” the victim and shot him from a distance of a few feet.

“This has resulted in the loss of stereoscopic vision and inevitably affects his ability to judge distance,” added Mr Shaw. “The injury sustained is particularly grave, permanent and irreversible (and will) have a substantial, lifelong effect on (Mr Corbyn’s) ability to carry out his normal, day-to-day activities and which may impact on his work ability.”

Mr Shaw said that in the days and weeks leading up to the shooting, Plummer had “abused his position of power over the victim” by bullying Mr Corbyn and it was also alleged that he had assaulted him, causing bruising to his arm. However, Plummer was never charged with any prior assault.

Mr Corbyn, described as a “very gentle character”, said the incident had had a massive effect on his life.

“I thought I had managed to come to terms with what happened, but recent confirmation from a doctor that the sight (in my left eye) would not return was devastating,” he added.

He had suffered from depression and nightmares about the shooting and had lost all his confidence. He now had difficulties even with cooking, reading and crossing the road and he was still having regular hospital appointments to check his eye condition.

He said he now “walked into things regularly” and had to abandon plans to take up driving lessons. He still suffered from a “pulsing” eye ache.

Mr Corbyn, who has since moved to Leeds to take up a university course, said the entire aftermath of the incident had been “very traumatic” and at one stage he had lapsed into heavy drinking to cope.

His GP had recently prescribed him anti-depressants and his family had also been badly affected. He now only saw blackness in his left eye.

Defence barrister Deborah Graham said Plummer was otherwise a hard-working family man of hitherto “exemplary good character” who had shown “clear” remorse.

Judge Simon Hickey said the “dreadful” incident had resulted in a “grave” injury and a “life-changing” effect on Mr Corbyn “in that he’s now blinded in his left eye” and faced annual medical checks.

He said Plummer had abused his position of “leadership and power” at the pub by “bullying and intimidating this young man” in the days and weeks before the incident.

He told the disgraced chef: “Not only was he physically slighter than you but he was much younger and a very gentle character, easily intimidated, and (during the trial) he pointed out this game that was played, not in a jovial way… but in a more unpleasant and nasty way which resulted in some injuries.”

Plummer was jailed for two-and-a-half years, of which he will serve half behind bars before being released on prison licence.

The judge banned him from keeping firearms for five years and ordered the destruction of the ball-bearing gun, as well as two air rifles and ammunition which Plummer had also kept on the premises.