Sutton man left with fractured skull and bleed on brain after unprovoked attack with pool cue
A Sutton man was left with a fractured skull and a bleed on the brain after he was followed by two drug-dealing thugs and hit over the back of his head with a pool cue, a court has heard.
Daniel Haslam took the weapon from the boot of his Nissan before running at the victim and hitting him with a “forceful blow,” near a cemetery on Sutton Road, Huthwaite, at around 1.40am on August 22, 2022, Lauren Fisher, prosecuting, said.
His victim, who had been minding his own business after buying items at a nearby garage, was taken to King’s Mill Hospital where it was discovered he’d suffered a fractured skull and a bleed to the brain.
Haslam’s accomplice, Thomas Knight, was a passenger in the Nissan and rented a room at Haslam’s address in Chesterfield.
When police arrested them they found £1,400 of cannabis and mobile phone messages which showed the pair had been selling cannabis and cocaine.
They then later blamed each other for getting themselves involved in crime.
Nottingham Crown Court heard Haslam has four previous convictions for eight offences while Knight has no previous convictions.
Dan Scothern, mitigating, said Haslam was only 20 at the time of the offences and has already served the equivalent of a 20-month sentence on remand.
“He was a young man who found himself in a downward spiral having lost his job as an apprentice bricklayer,” he said.
“This was, thankfully, a single blow and not a frenzied attack and he feels he has desperately let his family down.”
Raglan Ashton said Knight was befriended by Haslam and subjected to physical abuse by him becoming pressured into getting involved in his criminality.
"He was under the spell of Mr Haslam,” he added.
Knight, 32, of Derby Road, Chesterfield, pleaded guilty to assault occasioning grievous bodily harm, possession of an offensive weapon, possession with intent to supply cannabis and possession of criminal property.
He was handed a two-year jail term, suspended for two years, with 150 hours unpaid work and 15 rehabilitation sessions.
Haslam, 23, of Carrwood Road, Renishaw, Derbyshire, pleaded guilty to assault occasioning grievous bodily harm, possession of an offensive weapon and being concerned in the supply of cocaine. He was jailed for three years and one month.