A pigeon fancier was left with a broken jaw after being attacked at his loft by a thug donning a disguise.
The victim was tending to his birds very early in the morning when Lee Little turned up wearing a cap, hoodie, sunglasses and hi-vis jacket and armed with a knife. He attacked the victim who ended up blanking out before coming round in the loft.
Now Little, who has previous convictions for violence, has been jailed at Newcastle Crown Court after he admitted inflicting GBH and possessing a bladed article.
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The court heard it was around 5.30am on May 11 that the victim was at an allotment on Corporation Road, Sunderland, letting some pigeons out and feeding others. As he was doing so, Little arrived, assaulted him and they ended up fighting.
Punches from Little broke the other man's lower jaw on both sides and he also pulled out the knife. As well as the fractures, the victim suffered bruising around both eyes and a small wound to the top of his head.
In a victim impact statement, he said: "After this I found it hard to go back to the loft in case he came back. I would usually go to the allotment around 5am but because of what happened I started going later.
"It's affected my work and had a real impact on my family. My mother and partner were very worried.
"As a result of the attack I have a fractured jaw on both sides and for weeks I was on a liquid diet. I also had cuts to my head which I believe were caused by the knife.
"This was a totally unprovoked attack. He came onto my property in the early hours, in my opinion high on drugs and armed with a weapon. No one should have to go through that.
"I've now decided to sell the loft, which I had spent a lot of money on. Due to fear he would come back myself and my friend decided it was not worth spending any more money and sold it. We've lost a considerable amount of money as a result of this."
Little, 37, of Moor Close, Sunderland, who has 32 previous convictions, including for another GBH in 2017, was jailed for 43 months and given a five-year restraining order.
The court heard there had been a burglary of an associate of the victim and Little thought others wrongly believed he was responsible and were after him.
Steven Reed, defending, said: "He was dressed in bizarre clothing, a disguise. He is genuinely remorseful and has ongoing mental health issues."
Mr Reed added that Little was later subjected to an attack with a machete and suffered a broken arm.
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