A MAN who launched an unprovoked, sustained attack on his former step-father was jailed for 12-and-a-half years.

Having been drinking initially amicably in the kitchen at his mother’s home, Fairhurst suddenly began swearing at the startled victim, before turning on him, repeatedly punching him.

Durham Crown Court heard that Fairhurst grabbed him round the neck and told him he had been waiting to do this, “for a long time”.

Christine Egerton, prosecuting, said the victim has physical difficulties, including a disabled hip, epilepsy, angina, and asthma, all of which would have been known to Fairhurst.

Despite this, he continued punching him and then thrust a glass, striking him in the vicinity of the right eye, smashing the glass and causing the wound to bleed immediately.

Efforts were made to restrain Fairhurst, but he continued the assault, striking the victim over his head and body with his own walking stick, which snapped in two.

Mrs Egerton said the injured man felt as if the attack was, “lasting a lifetime”, and feared he may be killed.

Fairhurst’s mother rang the police and the defendant fled the house, in Horden, near Peterlee.

An ambulance was summoned and the victim, who is in his 40s, underwent treatment for numerous cuts, bruises and swellings, having three stitches applied to the top of his head and six to his right cheek.

The court heard that Fairhurst was arrested the following day, after being found asleep on the settee at his home still with his victim’s blood on his clothing.

Police had to use incapacitant spray to complete his arrest, while a blood test on Fairhurst revealed there were still traces of drugs in his system.

The court was told that earlier in the evening, on December 4 last year, Fairhurst went to the victim’s flat with a child and then both walked to his mother’s home, buying drink on the way.

Twenty-four-year-old Fairhurst, of Blackhills Terrace, Horden, admitted wounding with intent, but only on the day a trial was due to start in the case, at the court.

Jonathan Walker, mitigating, said the defendant was at a loss as to why he carried out such an assault, even considering that his drink may have been spiked due to the extent of the attack.

Jailing him, Judge Christopher Prince told Fairhurst: “This was a sustained assault on a vulnerable victim, due to his physical difficulties, aggravated by the fact you were under the influence of both alcohol and drugs.”

Judge Prince said the sentence would have been 14 years, but for Fairhurst’s late admission on the day of trial.

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