FORMER Big Brother contestant Charlie Drummond has been jailed over a violent street attack.
The once popular housemate, who came fourth in the show in 2009, left Jamie Ritchie with a fractured leg and dislocated ankle after the early hours assault.
As a result of the violence, Mr Ritchie’s foot was left “facing the wrong way” and needed three operations, with four months in plaster, to correct.
Newcastle Crown Court heard former Mr Gay UK runner-up Drummond, originally from Cleadon, may have wrongly believed Mr Ritchie and his friends were laughing at him and his pals, as they passed in the street.
Mr Ritchie, who had actually been laughing at himself after accidentally walking into a lamp post, gave evidence during Drummond’s trial.
Drummond, who the court heard had lost his job at Barclays Bank and is deep in debt, had denied causing grievous bodily harm, but was convicted by a jury.
Mr Ritchie, 32, told the court he and his friends were heading home in the early hours of April 14 last year after a night out, when they were attacked.
A teenager who was with Drummond’s group initially attacked one of Mr Ritchie’s friends, before the violence turned on him.
Mr Ritchie told jurors: “He (Drummond) punched me with his left fist in the face.
“I didn’t know what was going on. I tried to stop him.
“I went to the ground. I was on the floor and not able to get up and had excruciating pain in my ankle.”
The court heard witnesses claimed Drummond had pulled Mr Ritchie by the leg while he was on the ground injured during the attack.
Prosecutors accept it was a male, who cannot be named, who was with Drummond that night who started the violence with Mr Ritchie’s group, by headbutting one of them in the face.
Drummond, now of Howden Road, London, was jailed for 21 months.
Judge James Goss, QC, told him: “You set upon Mr Ritchie, who did not provoke in any way the reaction that you formulated.
“You grabbed him, you took him to the middle of the road, took him to the ground, during the course of which he suffered a fractured leg and severely dislocated his ankle.
“You continued to assault him by, at the very least, punching him while on the ground.
“This was a sustained assault on a man who had done nothing to deserve it.
“You have contested your guilty, which is your right, but by reason of doing that you have sought to blame everyone but yourself for what took place.”
Drummond, who has been the victim of violence in the past, denied any blame for what happened that night while giving evidence from the witness box, and said it was he who came under attack by Mr Ritchie’s group.
He told jurors: “I was not there to cause anyone injury, I was protecting myself and that is the truth.”
Drummond had told the court he had drank four pints that night while out celebrating his sister’s birthday, but was not drunk.
Shaun Routledge, defending, said Drummond was working in a Barclays Bank in London selling insurance, mortgages and loans until he told them about the court case and it was decided it would be “best he left”.
He added: “For the most part, this young man has demonstrated that he is not a person to cause trouble.”
He was dislikeable and had a temper on BB - but thats a shock!
but was pretty nasty when he let the mask slip. He had arguments with Rodriguo + if crossed his face would contort with rage 
Brilliant description. Thats him.
You summed him up perfectly
