A JUDGE shown dramatic CCTV footage of a man climbing to the top of a famous bridge said on Friday: “It’s unbelievable, crassly stupid. I have never come across anything so recklessly stupid in my life.”

Craig Jones, 31, of Orme Terrace, Bangor, had climbed the curving ironwork of the Menai Suspension Bridge, Thomas Telford’s 1826 masterpiece, after being refused a drink in a nearby pub because he was banned in a Pubwatch scheme.

Pointing out that the Menai Strait was one of the most treacherous straits not only in Europe but probably in the world, Judge Huw Rees said : “It beggars belief.”

He added: “Had he fallen it would have resulted in death.”

He’d been on top of the 98ft high bridge, in t-shirt and shorts, for an hour and at one stage walked several yards to the other side of the structure and could be seen using his mobile phone and with his arms aloft.

Jones was jailed for eight months at Caernarfon crown court after pleading guilty to causing a public nuisance, breaching a criminal behaviour order, threatening behaviour and causing £330 criminal damage to the pub.

Prosecuting, Paulinus Barnes described a row in the Antelope pub on the Bangor side of the strait after Jones had been refused a drink on a Saturday lunch time last month.

He’d damaged a door, made as if to punch a barmaid after thrusting a wad of notes on the counter then climbed over railings on to the bridge.

Beaumaris lifeboat and a coastguard team were called out in case he plunged in to the water, police and paramedics were present and the bridge was closed, traffic building up on the other link to Anglesey, the Britannia bridge.

When Jones climbed down after an hour he smashed a bottle and put the glass to his throat but police used a taser to arrest him.

Mr Barnes said Jones had previous convictions including for violence.

Sarah Yates, defending, said he’d gone to the pub with his partner intending to have lunch there, but had climbed on to the bridge when police were called. “My instructions are that he panicked, he thought he was going to be arrested because of what had happened in the pub, “she said.

“In the cold light of day he’s full of remorse.” He hoped to keep his job in a holiday park. Jones had written a letter of apology to the judge.

Judge Rees said many people had their day disrupted at a busy time of year. “The obstruction and inconvenience you caused was very extensive,” he declared.