'Crackhead' comment sparked plunge from hostel window in Mansfield

James Chandler pushed the man into a wall on the landing and punched him in the mouth after he was called a "crackhead," said prosecutor Stuart Lody.

A "scuffle" in a bedroom ensued and Chandler's victim tried to escape through a window, in the early hours of November 30, last year.

CCTV recorded the man dangling from the window sill of the hostel on Rosemary Street, before Chandler “made contact with him” and he dropped to the street.

Chandler ran outside, slipped in the snow and punched him around five times in the ribs.

On realising the severity of the man's injuries, Chandler called for a friend to pass a coat from the window, but his victim, who he knew from prison, hobbled off.

Chandler fled and was arrested a day later.

Nottingham Crown Court heard that his victim lost five teeth in the attack and sustained an open fracture to his ankle which needed surgery.

Mr Lody said he has 23 previous convictions for 32 offences, including assault, and was jailed for eight years in 2012 for robbery. He was released from prison six weeks before the attack, having completed a nine-month sentence.

Matthew Smith, mitigating, said there was "no excuse for what he did," but he didn’t kick his victim, or hit him with a paper-shredder, as his victim claimed.

He said Chandler had struggled to re-integrate himself into society because he was institutionalised by prison.

After his release he did the best he could, but he was introduced to crack cocaine, the court was told.

He has a young child and wants to change his life, Mr Smith said, adding: "He has been returned to custody at a time when he was hoping to do better with his life.”

Chandler, 31, formerly of Langford Road, Mansfield, admitted assault causing serious harm on a reckless basis, when he first appeared at the crown court.

Sentencing him on Thursday, Judge Julie Warburton told him: "You really have reached a point where you have turned a corner."

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