A vigilante, whose victim needed to learn how to walk again after being temporarily paralysed when smashed over the head with a heavy-duty tyre lever, was locked up for five years today.
Father-of-two Alistair Rycroft, 31, of Watermill Way, Feltham believed his target’s son had harassed his family and sought violent justice.
The builder pleaded guilty at Kingston-upon-Thames Crown Court to maliciously wounding 44 year-old Kevin Austin, with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, in Hospital Bridge Road, Whitton, Twickenham, West London on October 28, last year.
The victim was left in a pool of blood and needed life-saving emergency surgery after he was felled by the 7lb metal lever, which caused a depressed skull fracture and a brain haemorrage.
“You did use it on him without any possible justification. You could easily have killed him,” Judge Andrew Campbell told Rycroft.
The court heard the defendant approached Mr. Austin (pictured) in the street at 9.30 pm on his bike and as usual had the tyre lever attached to the handlebars.
Prosecutor Mr. Benedict Kelleher said Rycroft believed the victim’s son used his Rotweiler dog to intimidate his own girlfriend and young children.
“He was shouting and waving the pole at me,” Mr. Austin, who was confined to a wheelchair after the attack, told police.
“He must have hit my head with the pole as I tried to get away.”
Mr. Kelleher explained: “That led him to suffer paralysis of the lower part of his body. It is improving and he is able to some extent walk.”
Mr. Austin, who attended the hearing with the aid of a walking stick, needed neurosurgical rehabilitation and will not be able to return to work for another six months.
“You caused a very serious injury to him, a depressed skull fracture, plus paralysis with no feeling in his arms and legs,” Judge Campbell told Rycroft.
“He discloses how frightening that was and Mr. Austin has now feeling in his arms and legs and can walk slowly.
“The effect on him and his family has been devastating.”
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