A PENARTH solicitor who assaulted two teenage girls, after they brought his ‘paralytic’ daughter home following a New Year’s Eve drinking session, has been ordered by a court to pay almost £4,500.

Jonathan Brierley, aged 49, of Plymouth Road, grabbed two of his daughter's friends - one by the hair and the throat.

The then 16-year-old girls had taken Brierley’s daughter home after she became intoxicated on a mixture of alco-pops and spirits by 11pm on December 31, 2009.

An enraged Brierley attacked the girls at his home, screaming ‘what the **** have you done to my daughter?’ The solicitor, who has previous convictions for sexual assault, ABH and criminal damage, denied the assault charges but refused to give evidence in his trial at Bristol Magistrates’ Court after his defence lawyer stepped down.

District Judge Joti Bopa-Rai found him guilty of two counts of assault by beating in March.

He was sentenced at Cheltenham Magistrates’ Court last week, and was ordered to pay £4,460 in total over the incident.

He was fined £175, told to pay compensation of £250, Crown Prosecution Service costs of £4,020 and a £15 victim surcharge.

At the previous hearing, Judge Joti Bopa-Rai told Brierley his refusal to give evidence had left ‘unanswered questions’.

She said: “Why did he feel the need to grab the girls? I have drawn an inference from his failure to give his account to the court.

“I have drawn the conclusion that his explanation would not have held up to cross-examination.

“In my view they acted responsibly by taking their friend home. They didn't just leave her on the doorstep.

“I find the defendant detained the two girls using force and that the force he used was excessive.”

Finding him guilty of both assault charges, she added: “I find the defendant caused fear and distress to both girls.”

Brierley had claimed he grabbed the girls ‘out of necessity’ because his daughter was in such a ‘catastrophic’ state.

The court heard the friends struggled to carry his daughter on their backs and that she had walked into a tree on the way home, causing a nose-bleed.

Several teenagers gave evidence that they saw three of their friends take the girl home and watched as Brierley's girlfriend hugged and thanked them.

But the witnesses described how seconds later, as they were leaving, Brierley charged from his home.

Several witnesses broke down at Bristol Magistrates Court as they described how Brierley grabbed one girl by the hair and the throat, and another by the arm.

One said: “Our friend came up to us and said that she (his daughter) was paralytic. She was really, really drunk. We decided we were going to take her home.

“I could see my friends in the living room talking to her dad’s girlfriend and she gave them a hug so we thought it was alright.

“Very quickly after, I heard someone shout ‘get off her’. I turned around and saw the dad holding two of my friends.

“He grabbed a clump of one of the girl's hair in his hand, pulling her back. He was putting quite a lot of pressure on her hair so she was having to lean back.

“She was screeching at him, and so was my other friend. They were shouting 'get off’ - things like that. They were trying to pull away.

“I don't know where he was holding onto one of the girls. I just know he was strangling the other,” the witness added.

“He took a grip of her throat round her neck towards the front because she was struggling to breathe. I don't know whether it was because she was panicking or because of the pressure.

“He was shouting. He was red in the face. He was acting in a violent manner.”

Another friend present at the scene told the court: “I turned to face them and I saw them arguing with the dad. He was there and the girls were in front of him.

“I heard him shout ‘what the **** have you done to my daughter?' and he was really angry.”

The court heard that the girls left and went on to a party where a male friend reported the assault to police, who later charged Brierley.