A YOUNG father who viciously attacked a former classmate for no apparent reason was today locked up for five years.

Connor Braithwaite-Evans was left with a deep wound to the back of his head after Danny Bragman struck him with a weapon.

The 20-year-old victim thought he had been hit with a short samurai sword during the incident in Wharton Terrace, Hartlepool.

Bragman, 21, claimed during a trial that he simply pushed the other man and he fell back, striking his head on the ground.

A Teesside Crown Court jury last month convicted him of wounding with intent to inflict grievous bodily harm on June 16.

The panel acquitted him of having a sword, but the judge, Recorder J Bennett, said he had used some kind of weapon.

He told Bragman, of Fleet Avenue, Hartlepool: “This is the sort of thing the public are rightly concerned about.”

The court heard that there had never been any trouble between the two men, but the victim knew Bragman from primary school.

Shortly before midnight on June 16, Mr Braithwaite-Evans was cycling home in the town centre after visiting friends.

He stopped to speak to Bragman and a friend, but his former school pal started shouting and swearing at him, the court heard.

Construction worker Bragman left the scene and returned a short time later and struck a “heavy blow” to the victim's head.

The defendant falsely claimed during his two-day trial that Mr Braithwaite-Evans attacked him with a knuckle-duster.

His barrister, Jim Withyman, told Mr Recorder Bennett that he could “give no credence” to Bragman's continuing lies.

He said: “The defendant does have a supportive partner and children he looks after. He was working before this incident.

“Although he has a number of convictions when he was a younger man, being charged with this offence was a wake-up call.

“He has spent the vast majority of his time since this offence supporting his partner, staying at home with her and that's the person he is now.

“He is still a young man and he has shown he is able to live a law-abiding life, supporting his partner and keeping out of trouble.”

The court heard that Bragman was jailed last summer when an assault put him in breach of a suspended sentence for having an offensive weapon.

Mr Recorder Bennett told him: “There was no evidence you were enemies . . . or any motive for what took place.

“This was a serious offence. The only fortunate thing was although the injuries were nasty, they were not long-lasting.”