Hartlepool man jailed for attacking 75-year-old step-granddad in own home after two-day bender

Adam Wilkins punched and kicked the 75-year-old man, leaving him with injuries after knocking him to the floor.

Wilkins attacked him after the pensioner tried to get him to leave his grandmother’s house, Teesside Crown Court heard.

He was jailed for two years after the judge said there would be an outcry if he did anything else.

Prosecutor Anthony Pettengell told how Wilkins, 32, had gone round to his grandmother’s house at about 8pm on November 10 last year, where she had previously let him stay.

But she did not want him in her house as he had been drinking for two days and was holding a can of lager.

He went in anyway and when his grandmother’s partner tried get him to leave, he punched him, knocking him to the floor.

Mr Pettengell said: “The defendant then punched and kicked [the victim] a number of times primarily to the head and face.

"[His grandmother] had to resort to hitting the defendant over the head with a phone in order to get him to stop the assault.”

His victim, who lost consciousness, was left with bruising to his face, a split lip, cut on the top of his head and pain in his right arm and leg.

He had undergone an eye operation just a week before.

Wilkins, who claimed he acted in self-defence, was convicted of causing actual bodily harm after a trial.

Judge Jonathan Carroll said: “You beat up in the way that you did with kicks and punches to the head a 75-year-old man in his own home.

"There would be a justifiable outcry if you got anything other than an immediate custodial sentence.”

Wilkins, of Cundall Road, Hartlepool, had 77 offences on his record including three for battery.

Kelly Sherif, defending, said in mitigation he was in “a bad place” at the time and has stayed drug and alcohol free for four months.

She added he had been in stable accommodation and receiving support from various services.

"He has had enough of being in custody and had enough of being in trouble,” said Miss Sherif.

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