Attacker left pal fighting for life
An attacker tried to kill his friend in an "act of violent revenge" over a previous row.
Danny Stothard went to Robert Tullick's home for a drink on January 29, so they could "clear the air" and "let bygones be bygones" after a falling out .
But Newcastle Crown Court heard 29-year-old Stothard had an "ulterior motive" for his visit and took the opportunity to launch a ferocious and frenzied attack that left Mr Tullick on a ventilator with life-threatening injuries.
Prosecutor Nick Dry told the court it appears the brutal violence started inside the house and continued outside, as children from a nearby school walked by.
Mr Tu llicksuffe red 27 separate injuries, in cluding 12 impacts to the head, which were consistent with stamping.
He was left with facial fractures and stamp marks from Stothard's shoes on his face and neck and was taken to hospital by air ambulance for life-saving treatment.
He knew nothing of what had happened to him until he woke up four days later.
S tot hard, of Primrose Street, Sunderland, denied attempted murder but has been found guilty by a jury. He will be sentenced in December.
Mr Dry told the court the men had been friends since school but had fallen out in the days before the attack over Mr Tullick's alleged behaviour towards Stothard's girlfriend on a night out.
Mr Dry said: "It was Robert Tullick’s belief that the matter was dealt with, water under the bridge, the defendant having been the one to extend the olive branch by way of telephone call earlier that morning.
"Or so it seemed to him at the time, it now appearing instead from what was to follow that the defendant had quite different intentions upon calling that morning, an ulterior motive and purpose to exact violent revenge upon his friend which would see him leaving Robert Tullick for dead in the street before the afternoon was out."
The court heard the attack on Mr Tullick appeared to have started inside his home but continued outside, where the violence was captured on CCTV in "clear, shocking and graphic detail".
Mr Dry said: "It shows Robert Tu l lick staggering from his home and going to ground on the pavement where he was repeatedly punched, kicked, head-butted and stamped to his head and body by the defendant, Mr Tullick unconscious and defenceless throughout.
"The sustained and prolonged attack was carried out in broad daylight and in the presence of children returning home from school, the defendant only desisting when he appears to have exhausted himself owing to the ferocity of the frenzied violence visited upon his friend."
The court heard a passing neighbour saw Mr Tullick lying injured and administered first aid until the emergency services arrived and he was taken to hospital by helicopter.
Mr Dry said: "He was found to have life-threatening head injuries. Stamp marks from the sole of the defendant’s training shoes were readily apparent on his face and neck. It is the Crown’ s case that he intended to kill Robert Tullick when he attacked him as he did.”