A DUDLEY father of six who launched a "vicious and unprovoked" attack on a man with a claw hammer has been locked up for three years.

James Whyte had a grudge against Lee Avey and he knocked him unconscious when he hit him three times on the head with the hammer.

Then, when Mr Avey came round, Whyte told him, "I am going to break your legs and kill you" before striking him five more times on the legs with the weapon.

Whyte saw red when he saw Mr Avey come into the yard at Total Sheds in Dudley Road West and he picked up the hammer from one of the vans being loaded for the days work.

After the savage attack he threw the hammer back into the vehicle and after issuing a further threat he surrendered himself to police just days later, said Miss Cathlyn Orchard prosecuting.

She told Wolverhampton Crown Court Mr Avey was badly bruised by the attack but fortunately he suffered no broken bones.

Whyte of Ashenhurst Road, Russells Hall admitted attempting to inflict grievous bodily harm with intent and Judge Simon Ward told him the crime was so serious he had to go behind bars.

"I accept you must have borne a grudge against Lee Avey and you attacked him as soon as you saw him," added the Judge

"But it is to your credit that you stopped the attack of your own accord and you handed yourself in to police officers."

Mr Richard McConaghy defending told the court that in his own mind Whyte had a problem with the victim but he maintained he had not set out to launch the attack.

He said Whyte had expected Mr Avey to have left the yard before he arrived but when he spotted him he reacted on the spur of the moment.

The Judge was told Mr Avey suffered from flashbacks as a result of the incident and he said he was now continually looking over his shoulder when he left home.