A MAN who carried out a sustained attack on an unexpected caller at his home late at night was jailed for two-and-a-half years.

Stuart David Brown reacted angrily when the man, sent packing by his partner, Zoe Laura Herron, returned to knock at the door of their home in Fishburn, County Durham, for a second time, late on October 24 last year.

Durham Crown Court heard that the man, who was returning to his home in the village with a pizza, was narrowly missed by a car which mounted a pavement.

He believed the car pulled up outside Brown and Herron’s home in Springfield Road and so called at the address intending to speak to the driver.

Paul Abrahams, prosecuting, said he was told, “in no uncertain terms”, to leave, by Herron, and when he came back, there was a further exchange of words and she grabbed him by the hair.

Brown then intervened and assaulted him, knocking him to the ground outside the house and repeatedly kicking him about the head and body.

The victim fell unconscious, vaguely aware of people coming to assist.

He was taken to hospital suffering blindness in one eye, a fractured eye socket, injuries to his right elbow and nose, plus heavy bruising to his face and body.

The court heard the long-term prospects for his vision in his right eye remain in doubt and he may require further surgery.

Mr Abrahams said Brown and Herron were both arrested and gave varying accounts for the incident, both trying to shoulder responsibility for the incident.

The couple, now of Meadow Road, Trimdon Village, were both initially charged with wounding.

Twenty-two-year-old Brown admitted the charge on the day of his scheduled trial, in June, while the prosecution accepted a plea to affray by 26-year-old Herron.

Today’s sentencing hearing was told they deny responsibility for any road incident prior to the doorstep confrontation, while they were angry at the man coming back to their door, when asked to leave, as they were trying to settle their two young children.

Tony Davis, mitigating for both, said Herron is now expecting a third child, in December.

“This wasn’t a random attack by feral youths, but it is accepted they responded in forthright and robust terms, and when the man persisted and came back, Mr Brown accepts taking matters into his own hands, in an explosion of anger.”

Jailing Brown, Judge Simon Hickey described it as, “an horrendous attack”, on an unarmed man.

He imposed a six-month sentence on Herron, but he suspended it for a year, during which she will be subject to Probation supervision, due to her forthcoming child birth.