Thugs beat man with hammer and spanner in his own Leeds home
A pair of drug-addicted thugs attacked a man in his own home, beating him with a hammer, a spanner and a broken chair.
Kyle Nutton and Stuart Blair were jailed at Leeds Crown Court this week, while accomplice April Stones escaped a prison sentence after she stopped the stricken man from getting help.
Nutton and Blair both admitted GBH without intent, with Nutton also admitting criminal damage and Stones admitting a charge of theft.
They all entered their guilty pleas on the day they were all due to stand trial.
The court heard that the trio were friends with the victim when they went to his flat in Bramley at around 6pm on August 4, 2023.
But once inside, Nutton and Blair “set upon him”, prosecutor Gurjot Kaur said.
Blair, 56, began punching the man with Nutton then jumping in. They were shouting at him: “You know what you’ve done!”
Blair then pulled a spanner from his trousers and began striking the victim over the head.
The man was pushed back into chair which broke, with Blair then using a chunk from the chair to hit the stricken man.
Nutton, 36, then used a hammer to strike the man to the legs. Nutton also picked up a kitchen knife and used it to hit him over the legs.
The victim grabbed his ringing phone, shouting that he needed help before 34-year-old Stones snatched it from him.
Blair then told Nutton to get the flat’s CCTV recording box and smash it, which he did, along with the man’s TV.
Before they left, Nutton struck the man over the head with a glass bottle.
The victim was later taken to Leeds General Infirmary where a CT scan found he had a bleed and bruising to his brain.
Nutton, 36, has 25 previous convictions. Blair has 31 convictions including violence, while Stones has 12 convictions.
All three live on Gamble Hill Croft in Bramley.
Mitigating for Nutton, Michael Walsh said he had been on remand for 223 days and was now refraining from using drugs.
For Blair, Jordan Millican said he was a man who was “capable of living a life without committing crime”. He said he was a heroin user for more than 30 years and was “not a well man”, suffering from lung problems.
He said he was now on a methadone programme on a high dose to combat his addiction. Despite pleading guilty, a probation report found that Blair still denied involvement.
Little mitigation was offered by Stones’ barrister after the judge said he would not lock her up.
The judge, Recorder Mark McKone KC told the defendants: “It was a joint attack with weapons on someone in their own home.”
He jailed Blair and Nutton for 26 months each.
Stones was given an 18-month community order with 20 rehabilitation days, a nine-month drug-rehabilitation order and nine-month alcohol-treatment requirement.