A revenge attacker has been jailed for smashing a paving slab over a homeless man’s head as he sat outside a shop in the centre of Totnes.

Levi Hackett falsely accused victim Ben Martin of mistreating his girlfriend or trashing her flat in Kingsbridge and sought him out to attack him.

He was caught on CCTV wearing a Covid mask to hide his face as he picked up a heavy four centimetre thick slab and lifting it above his head before dropping it on the Mr Martin.

He was sat outside the Happy Apple shop in Totnes chatting with a friend in mid afternoon on July 3 last year when he was attacked without any warning. He had never met Hackett and did not know him.

Mr Martin suffered a fractured skull and had to be taken to hospital in a police car with blood dribbling from his ears because no emergency ambulance was available.

He needed hospital treatment for a bleed on the brain and is still suffering ringing in his ears and other cognitive symptoms. He believes he is suffering from PTSD and described his head as having been ‘cracked open like a coconut’.

Hackett ran away but was eventually traced by police and found hiding in the loft of his mother’s home in Manchester.

He was in Devon visiting his girlfriend who lives in Kingsbridge but who had been in hospital in Plymouth. On the day of the attack he had taken her home briefly and found her flat had been wrecked by an intruder.

He drove her back to Derriford Hospital to continue her treatment and was caught on CCTV wheeling her in while not wearing a mask. He then drove straight to Totnes when he spotted Mr Martin and parked up before carrying out the attack.

There were roadworks on the pavement near the Happy Apple shop and he picked up a loose slab which measured 30 by 16 by 4 cm which he used in the attack.

Hackett, aged 23, of Wellpark Walk, Newton Heath, Manchester, admitted causing grievous bodily harm with intent and was jailed for four years by Judge David Evans at Exeter Crown Court.

He told him: “Such a blow could easily have killed him. This was quite clearly a revenge attack and in my judgment there was significant pre-meditation. You decided to pick up a piece of paving slab.

“You had on a mask, you had walked some distance from your car before attacking him. It was very far from a spontaneous attack.

“Throwing a paving slab at an unsuspecting person’s skull is equivalent to using a highly dangerous weapon.”

Mr Ed Bailey, prosecuting, said it was not clear whether Hackett’s motivation was the false accusation of trashing the flat in Kingsbridge or allegations of previous domestic abuse.

He drove to Totnes where he went up the High Street slowly and clocked Mr Martin as he sat outside the Happy Apple, which he often did.

Mr Bailey showed a collection of CCTV clips which culminated in Hackett lifting the paving slab above his head and dropping it with force. Mr Martin’s head was not visible but his legs could be seen thrashing around

He said: “Witnesses describe the sound of the impact as a violent bang or a thud that sounded like a small car crash.” He read parts of Mr Martin’s victim statement in which he described his head being smashed ‘like a coconut’.

Mr Joss Ticehurst, defending, said Hackett is an otherwise hard working, decent man who had acted completely out of character and has expressed real remorse for the damage he has done.