A BUSINESSMAN has been jailed for slashing a former boxer with a machete after a feud erupted in violence.

Shaun Morfitt, 31, was sentenced to six years and three months in prison for attacking Anthony Rowbotham.

His brother, Adrian Morfitt, and friend David Garside, both 25, were jailed for three years and two-and-a-half years respectively for their part in the attack, on May 31.

Teesside Crown Court heard yesterday that Shaun Morfitt, part-owner of Hartlepool- based waste management company Niramax, rang Mr Rowbotham on the night of the attack and arranged to meet him.

The court watched CCTV images which showed the three men pulling up and getting out of a black BMW.

Shaun Morfitt then struck Mr Rowbotham, 38, several times with a large machete.

Christopher Attwooll, prosecuting, said: “Throughout the attack he said, ‘Am I going to have to kill you to shut you up?’.”

Garside shouted encouragement, including “give it to him Morfy”, the prosecution said.

Mr Rowbotham suffered a deep cut to his shoulder and arm and later needed emergency surgery.

The court heard how Adrian Morfitt then took the machete and chased the victim up the road.

Mr Rowbotham’s partner, Kirsty Coombs, arrived at the scene and was punched in the face by Adrian Morfitt.

The court heard the motive for the attack was unclear, but there had been ill-feeling between Shaun Morfitt and the victim for some time.

Ray Herman, mitigating for Shaun Morfitt, said the fatherof- two was a successful businessman who had recently travelled to Tanzania to carry out charity work.

Adrian Morfitt’s barrister, Alan Bridger, said his client did not know his brother was carrying a weapon.

Daniel Travers, for Garside, said his client did not offer any violence and was a “hardworking young man”.

Shaun Morfitt, of Clifftop Avenue, Crimdon Dene, admitted wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, while Adrian Morfitt, of Caistor Drive, Hartlepool, and Garside, of Glentower Grove, Seaton Carew, near Hartlepool, admitted violent disorder.

The three men were found not guilty of an alternative charge of attempted murder.

Sentencing the men, Judge Peter Bowers described the attack as a “frenzy of violence”.

He added: “An inch either way could have severed an artery. It’s only luck that the injuries were serious, but I accept not life-threatening.”

The prosecution offered no evidence against three other defendants. Formal not guilty verdicts were recorded against firefighter Carl Miller, 26, of Marlowe Road, Hartlepool, who was charged with attempted murder and wounding with intent; Sarah King, 24, of Marlowe Road, Hartlepool, charged with perverting the course of justice, and Alan Morfitt, 52, of Newlands Avenue, Hartlepool, charged with assisting an offender. All three had denied the charges.