Alleged hammer attacker went on drug binge

11:30am Wednesday 23rd April 2008

A MAN binged on cocaine after fracturing a 51-year-old's skull by repeatedly hitting him in the head with a hammer, a court heard.

Sheldon Thomas, 26, of Holbein Square, in Grange Park, is accused of using a friend's work hammer to beat a man and then rob him in Freshbrook on October 13, last year.

He has denied the charge.

CCTV evidence of the moments leading up to the attack were shown during the first day of his trial at Swindon Crown Court yesterday.

Thomas is charged with grievous bodily harm with intent, and robbery, after Terry Stevens was robbed of £140 and his phone, and left with life-threatening injuries.

Richard Threlfall, prosecuting, said Mr Stevens had been drinking in the Windmill Pub before heading to the cashpoint on his way home to Worsley Road.

The prosecutor said that after Thomas had seen Mr Stevens walking through a car park he told his friend Sam Brown: "I am going to rob him."

According to Brown, Thomas got out of Brown's van and fetched a hammer from the boot.

Mr Threlfall said Thomas then followed Stevens down the road and attacked him, leaving him with life-threatening injuries, including four head wounds and a fractured cheekbone.

Brown told the court that the pair then went back to Brown's flat.

He said: "He (Thomas) took his jeans off at the time, he had bloodstains on them. I think he had stains on his jacket as well.

"He put them in the washing machine. He did it of his own accord. To be honest, I didn't forbid him."

Mr Threlfall said the pair then took cocaine and then drove back into town to get more drugs.

Once back in the car, Mr Threlfall told the court, Thomas handed Mr Brown the hammer and told him to get rid of it.

Mr Brown threw it out of the window on to Bodiam Drive, in Toothill, the same spot where the police later recovered it, the court was told.

Terry Stevens, who is in Florida resting, has been left with scar wounds on his head and part of his face. He is also said to suffer from short-term memory loss.

l The case continues