Lotto millionaire punched man over debt

A FORMER lottery millionaire punched a man in a dispute over a £400 debt, a court heard.

Michael Antonucci, aged 61, hit businessman John Langman 'in a rage' during an assault in a city pub.

Plymouth magistrates heard that Langman had asked for £400 he claimed he was owed by Antonucci, who won £2.8 million on the National Lotttery in 1995.

Antonucci's solicitor McKenzie Robinson said that the lottery money had 'disappeared'.

He added: "Things are a little complicated over the years. That money has disappeared. It is a long story as to where it has gone but it has gone.

"His furniture export business is weak to the point of near-collapse."

Plymouth magistrates found after a day-long trial that Antonucci had hit Mr Langman, a former rugby player and referee, once in the face in the Minerva pub in Looe Street.

Antonucci, of Parsonage Way, had denied one charge of assaulting Mr Langman by beating on August 29 last year.

He was ordered to pay a total of £720 in a fine, compensation and costs.

Antonucci said he could pay the sum off within 28 days.

The court heard that Mr Langman, a bath and shower shop owner, was left with a split lip, bruised chin and cuts inside his mouth.

He told the court: "He was in a rage. I had never seen him like that before. I didn't think he was that kind of guy, but I was proved wrong."

Mr Langman, aged 59, also claimed that Antonucci had attacked him in the Porters bar down the street two hours later. But magistrates said there was not enough evidence to prove what had happened in the second pub.

Antonucci claimed the debt was only £90 and had said he acted in self-defence.

He said that Langman sprung at him in the Minerva and grabbed him by the shirt.

Presiding magistrate Sarah Martin told Antonucci: "You reacted aggressively to the mention of the debt and punched him in the face. We do not accept that John Langman grabbed your shirt."

Mr Langman told the court he was enjoying a drink with friends in the Minerva when Antonucci came in at about 9pm.

He said that he asked about the £400 he was owed.

Mr Langman, owner of the Bath and Shower Shop in Exeter Street, said that Antonucci had not paid him for a mirror bought about five or six years before.

Mr Langman said: "He punched me with his fist in my mouth."

His friend Joanne Dennehy said: "It was totally unprovoked and unexpected."

Asked whether he touched Antonucci in the Minerva, he replied: "No, not at all."

Magistrates ordered that Antonucci pay £455 prosecution costs, £150 fine, £100 compensation to Mr Langman and the £15 victim surcharge.