Hartlepool man carried out brutal attack after victim’s fall

Geoffrey Vanes was among a group of people who gathered outside the victim’s home shouting threats before he was brutally attacked when he hit the ground.

One of the group scaled a drainpipe to get to the upstairs off the property shortly before the man fell to the ground, Teesside Crown Court heard.

The 40-year-old was seen to strike the man three times before another person started kicking and stamping on the prone victim outside the property on Derwent Street in Hartlepool.

Rachel Butt, prosecuting, said the defendant then struck the man again as he struggled to get back to his feet.

She said the victim managed to escape and take sanctuary in a shop until the police arrived and he was taken to hospital.

The court heard how the man suffered a dislocated right elbow and damage to his spine as a result of the incident.

Vanes, of Windermere Road, Hartlepool, pleaded guilty to affray and possession of an offensive weapon following the attack on August 1 last year.

Rachel Kelly, mitigating, said: “He said he felt ashamed when he viewed the evidence and had told the probation officer that he regretted the impact of the incident on the victim.

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“There is genuine remorse shown by the defendant in his pre-sentence report.”

Judge Nathan Adams sentenced Vanes to 22 months in custody for the attack on the man in his own home.

“The was quite clearly a targeted attack on him at his property,” he said.

“It is not clear exactly how he came to fall, he says he was pushed out of the window, but what we do know is that when he hits the ground, you repeatedly hit him with a weapon whilst he is on the ground.”