A neighbour who jumped over a garden wall and launched a hammer attack on his mother's partner has been jailed.
Stevie Palmer lived next door to victim Stephen Brown in Newton Abbot but the two households lived as an extended family because of the relationship with his mother.
The families had shared beer and a curry meal on the day of the attack which happened when Palmer found his mother hysterical and blamed Mr Brown for making her upset.
He armed himself with a hammer, vaulted the fence, lashed out at the victim's legs eight times, causing horrific bruising, then attacked two 16-year-old girls who tried to intervene.
Palmer, aged 20, of Hewitt Close, Newton Abbot, admitted attempting to cause grievous bodily harm and two assaults by beating. He was jailed for two years and two months by Judge Phillip Wassall at Exeter Crown Court.
Miss Eleanor Purkiss, prosecuting, said the trouble started after Mr Brown and Palmer had shared beers and a curry but then had a falling out.
She said Mr Brown returned to his own house and was watching television when he was attacked.
She said:"He jumped over the fence between the two houses and ran into the house and without warning lunged at Mr Brown and started hitting him with a hammer.
"He hit him about eight times and the blows were vicious and with a full swing. Mr Brown had previously suffered a brain injury and feared he would be hit on the head. He was particularly concerned because he was supposed to wear protective head gear but did not have it on."
Miss Purkiss said two 16-year-old girls who were at the house intervened and Palmer held one by the throat and punched the other in the face.
Mr William Parkhill, defending, said the offence arose out of a troubled domestic background in which Palmer's mother was in a relationship with her next door neighbour.
He said Palmer found her hysterical and threatening to commit suicide and blamed Mr Brown for her state. He picked up the hammer on the spur of the moment.
He said:"It is an unhealthy and dysfunctional situation between the two households. Palmer is very immature and vulnerable. He moved back with his mother and it was a recipe for disaster."
Judge Phillip Wassall told him:"These were unusual circumstances in an otherwise ordinary day between the extended families. There is an extraordinary degree of background to this case.
"When you hit someone with a hammer the extent of the injuries are largely a matter of luck."
