A burglar beat a 72-year-old hotelier from Folkestone so ferociously inside his pantry his "eye was hanging out", a judge heard.

Michael Stainer grabbed intruder Roy Scott by the lapel as he tried to stop him, but was head-butted and repeatedly punched to the head and body.

The victim, a former director of The Grand in Folkestone - where the attack took place - told Canterbury Crown Court his injuries were life-changing before Scott was locked up for 27 months.

"I still suffer from lack of balance and, after 21 months, impaired peripheral vision and numbness in my face," Mr Stainer said.

"For about three months I only left the house twice, to be taken to the doctors.

"As a result of my injuries it became difficult to concentrate."

Mr Stainer added he suffered "short term memory loss", but has since "recovered most of my former abilities".

Wife Doris explained she witnessed Scott, 37, fleeing the former Edwardian hotel and then discovered her injured husband in the private-wing stockroom.

The nurse told the court "his eye was effectively out" and his health seriously deteriorated.

Prosecutor Amy Nicholson said Mrs Stainer had to care for her husband around-the-clock after his health deteriorated six weeks after the attack.

She also described her fears the family business would deteriorate, with Mr Stainer being the main breadwinner at the time.

The court heard drug addict Scott, alongside an unidentified accomplice, attempted to burgle Mr Stainer on the evening of January 26, 2018.

CCTV footage played in court showed the assailants creeping around the store cupboard, when the unnamed man appears to leave.

The video showed Mr Stainer shortly arriving and then tussling with Scott before they move out of shot.

The duo fled with two bottles of spirits prompting a police manhunt.

Mr Stainer was treated at Ashford’s William Harvey Hospital for a fractured orbital floor and maxillary cheekbone, Miss Nicholson said.

Scott was arrested after a CCTV still was circulated and pleaded guilty to wounding last December.

Peter Allcock, representing Scott, said the defendant had a "long history of offences but virtually no violence on his record".

He added Scott pleaded guilty at an early opportunity, the attack was "unplanned" and he had fallen into a cycle of crime after becoming addicted to drugs from a young age.

"Violence wasn’t in his mind when he went to steal," he told Judge James O'Mahony.

Scott, of no fixed address, was jailed for wounding and burglary offences.

Read more: All the latest news from Folkestone

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