A GRANDFATHER who attacked an innocent man recovering from a stroke with a pole in a “terrifying” unprovoked assault has been jailed.

Lee Prosser, a man with a history of violence, drove to his victim’s house and set upon him outside his home in front of his wife.

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The attack took place against Steve Prosser, no relation of the 57-year-old defendant, in Elliots Town, Caerphilly, in broad daylight on September 11, 2020.

Prosecutor Thomas Stanway said: “He arrived in his van. He was screaming and shouting, ‘Where is he?’

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“He was furious and the complainant didn’t know why.

“The defendant reached into the van and pulled out a pole of plastic piping.

“He came towards Mr Prosser with the weapon in his hand and hit him with some considerable force to the back of his knee and punched him to the face.

“The victim didn’t know what was going on and what the defendant was going to do next. He was going berserk.

“He warned the complainant he would be returning to offer more violence.”

Cardiff Crown Court heard the incident was triggered because there was an allegation of assault being made by Prosser’s daughter against the victim’s son.

The defendant, of Highfield Crescent, Aberbargoed, pleaded guilty to affray.

Mr Stanway said Prosser had 30 previous convictions for 54 offences although he had not been in trouble since 2007.

The defendant has four previous convictions for violence, although historical, for wounding in 1988 and assault occasioning actual bodily harm in 1982, 1991 and 2001.

Hilary Roberts, mitigating, said on Prosser’s behalf: “The blood was up and he wasn’t thinking straight.

“He wants to express his remorse which is genuine. He knows if the court sends him to prison today, he deserves it.

“It was an unpleasant matter.”

It was told how the defendant’s daughter is serving a jail sentence for driving offences.

The judge, Recorder IWL Jones, told Prosser: “This must have been a terrifying incident for the complainant and his partner.

“It has had a traumatic effect on them.

“You have a very bad record going back to 1975.”

He jailed the defendant for eight months and made him the subject of an indefinite restraining order not to contact his victim.