Jailed: violent Mansfield man stamped on victim’s head in sickening town centre attack

Paul Morris had been drinking for 14 hours and taking drugs when he lost his temper after an acquaintance suggested he was going shoplifting.

He punched him to the ground and launched a volley of "fast-firing" punches before stamping three times on his head on Westgate, at 10pm on April 15.

Prosecutor Fergus Malone showed CCTV in which Morris's partner was heard saying: "He can't f****** breathe," and Morris replying: "I don't give a f***."

They left the scene but Morris returned a minute later to go through his unconscious victim's pockets, scattering his wallet and trainers and stealing his mobile phone.

He was arrested within minutes with an injured right hand and said: "It's all me - nothing to do with them. I hit him and yes, I stamped on his head.

"I lost it. I climbed on top of him. I beat the s*** out of him. I should have punched him twice and walked off. I could have killed him."

His victim woke up in King's Mill hospital with swollen eyes and cheeks, damaged teeth and a gaping laceration to his tongue which required stitches.

"Given the severity of the attack it seems remarkable that his injuries were as minor as they were," said Mr Malone.

Nottingham Crown Court heard Morris, aged 38, has 24 previous convictions for 55 offences, including 14 assaults, repeated breaches of court orders and one assault occasioning actual bodily harm in 2011.

Matthew Smith, mitigating, said: “From a very young age he was reliant on alcohol and drugs to cope. He has been diagnosed with a personality disorder and psot traumatic stress disorder.”

Seeing the CCTV was “a wake-up call” and Morris made “startlingly frank observations about how he has treated other partners.”

“He had been drinking for about 14 hours and using different types of drugs and behaved in a way he knows was appalling.”

Morris, of Kitchener Drive, Mansfield, admitted inflicting grievous bodily harm and theft on May 22.

On Thursday, Judge Steven Coupland imposed an extended sentence of seven years. Morris must serve two thirds in custody before he can apply for parole and will spend three years on licence.