Attacker hit man over head with hammer because ‘he was insulted’

Hedgecock given suspended jail sentence

AN assailant who beat a man with a hammer in the street has been given a suspended jail sentence.

Carl Andrew Hedgecock struck the victim on the head between six and seven times causing cuts and two broken teeth.

He pleaded guilty at Leicester Crown Court to unlawful wounding and possessing an offensive weapon, described as a small hammer, in Marchant Road, Hinckley, on June 18 last year.

Hedgecock, 30, formerly of Trinity Lane, Hinckley, was given a two year jail sentence, suspended for two years.

He was placed on a three month curfew between 9pm and 7am.

Judge Ebraham Mooncey said: “This is a case that would attract a sentence that requires imprisonment.

“If you have people calling you names you should really turn a deaf ear to it and if you’re in danger you should run away from it and not react in the way you did.

“Given your mental health and accommodation issues and the fact there have been no lasting effects of the assault I can, in the circumstances, suspend the sentence that I would have normally imposed.

“On this day you and the complainant came into contact with each other.

“You used, after a brief conversation, a small hammer to cause him injuries.

“He had to have some treatment, but I’m told everything is medically resolved and there have been no long lasting effects.

“There’s been no repetition of this behaviour and you don’t have any previous convictions for violence.”

James Varley, prosecuting, said the incident was unprovoked.

The defendant did not know the victim but they ended up having a conversation in Marchant Street.

Hedgecock asked the complainant what his problem was - something that made no sense to the victim.

Mr Varley said: “He didn’t know what the defendant was talking about.

“The defendant reached down and produced from a rucksack a small hammer which he used to strike him six or seven times on the head and once to his face.”

The victim suffered swelling and several cuts, between one-and-a-half to two centimetres in width, including a cut lip.

He sustained two fractured teeth requiring dental repair.

Gary Short, mitigating, said the defendant had been making his way home when he heard someone saying something insulting.

He said: “There’s been no further problems between the two and the complainant made a good recovery.

“There’s no history of violence on his record.”

Mr Short said the defendant had recently moved home and added: “Since the offence the defendant’s mental health has been swinging from good to bad and for which he’s seeking assistance.”