A man who was so badly beaten up in the street by a violent drunk now has to wear a protective helmet because his skull is too fragile. Corey Middleton was walking down the road with a friend when, for no apparent reason, they turned on a complete stranger and attacked him.
At a sentencing hearing at Truro Crown Court today (Friday, January 10), it was heard that the attack was so violent and severe that Middleton’s victim fell unconscious to the ground and suffered life-threatening injuries.
The attack happened at 3.30am on June 16 last year in Penzance. Security CCTV footage from a shop outside which the attack took place shows Middleton punching his victim until he falls to the ground.
The video shown in court also shows Middleton, 23, from Richmond Street, Heamoor, Penzance, returning to the scene where his victim lay prone in the street, then making some celebratory fist-bumping with his friend before the pair hug and disappear from view.
He returns one more time to check on his victim, then leaves again.
Francesca Whebell, prosecuting, said paramedics were called, and Middleton’s victim was then taken to hospital because of the severity of his injuries. She told the court that the victim, a male, and keen musician, had to be put in a medically-induced coma as he had a bleed on the brain, several facial and skull fractures as well as a bleed on the lungs.
He remained in hospital for more than three and a half weeks.
In a victim impact statement read out in court, Middleton’s victim said that not only had the attack left him terrified to go out for fear that he might be attacked randomly for no reason again, but he has lost some of his hearing which is impacting his passion as a musician and means he has not been able to return to work.
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As a result his mother has had to stop work to look after him and both have incurred financial losses as a result.
He added: “I was in a coma on life-support for a week. Without that, I may have died. I remained in hospital for three and a half weeks. I have had to wear a protective helmet because my skull remains fragile and any other knocks could be fatal. It makes me self-conscious. This attack has had a traumatic detrimental impact on my hearing. I can’t separate individual sounds and I can’t hear high pitch noises. I can’t continue my hobby as a musician.
“I find it difficult to socialise. I have anxiety when I’m out for fear I will be assaulted for no reason.”
In his victim impact statement, Middleton’s victim also said that he is awaiting a further operation so a metal plate can be inserted in his head to protect his skull. He added: “I have no idea how long the recovery will take.”
He said he hopes to be able to return to normality but doesn’t know whether he will be able to go back to work or not.
In mitigation, Ramsay Quaife, said Middleton, who pleaded guilty to one charge of inflicting grievous bodily harm without intent towards the end of last year, said he was now a “changed man” from that incident six months ago.
He said: “This was, for whatever reason, an impulsive, spontaneous and short-lived attack. He is a man who has changed his life since this offence in a number of ways, in terms of substance misuse and in terms of his mental health as well as in terms of stability. This is someone who has changed and he did it without the outside help of any agency. He has removed himself from the peer group he was in.
“There is regrets. There is remorse and it is genuine.”
His Honour Judge Simon Carr said this had been a random attack on a complete stranger for no reason which led to a man receiving “catastrophic injuries”. He added: “This man’s skull is now so fragile he has to wear a helmet to protect himself and will have to have a metal plate put into his head. The injuries he received have been devastating to his hearing and that’s unlikely to change.
“He has been unable to return to work and doesn’t know when he will be.”
Judge Carr told Middleton: “You returned to the scene afterwards and appeared to celebrate what you have done. This is as bad a case of GBH as it is possible to imagine.”
He said that drug abuse, not mental health issues, were behind Middleton’s behaviour, adding: “You have no memory of the event because you were drunk. You have shown remorse and you have done as much as you can to turn your life around and are addiction-free at the moment but these were life-threatening and very grave injuries with life-long effects on the complainant.”
Middleton was sentenced to two and a half years in prison.
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