by Keith Hunt

A driver who stabbed another man in the head with a key during a petrol forecourt rage incident has been jailed for 14 months.

Thomas Morgan was left with the key embedded in his skull in the attack by Stephen Sinclair and had to be transferred to a London hospital to have it removed.

Sinclair admitted to police he “saw red” at the service station near Maidstone and “lost it”.

Rejecting a submission that the 49-year-old supermarket delivery driver could walk free under a suspended sentence, a judge said he had caused a “fearsome injury” which had left the victim with ongoing problems.

Sinclair, of Wood Cottage Lane, Folkestone, denied causing grievous bodily harm with intent but admitted inflicting grievous bodily harm.

A jury could not reach a verdict in March and now the prosecution has offered no further evidence on the more serious charge.

Maidstone Crown Court heard the two men were at the M20 service station, off junction 8, in March last year when Sinclair almost reversed into Mr Morgan’s car.

Words were exchanged, and Sinclair got out of his car. Jurors were shown CCTV film of him leaning into the victim’s open window and punching him.

Mr Morgan, who had been driving from Blackheath to Folkestone, said: “I thought I had been punched. Then I realised I had something in my head.”

Sinclair told police Mr Morgan had “started mouthing off”. He added: “I thought: ‘Crikey, what have I done’?”

Mr Morgan, an electrical engineer, was taken to Maidstone Hospital with the car key lodged in his temple above his right eye and then transferred to London’s King’s College Hospital.

“The key penetrated the skull but thankfully did not cause brain damage,” said prosecutor Anthony Prosser.

Judge David Griffith-Jones QC said the consequences could have been catastrophic.

Mr Morgan has been left with scarring around his temple and an indent in his skull. He at times has to wear headgear and has a weakened eye which droops. He was unable to work for some time.

“In short, his life has been turned upside down,” the judge told Sinclair. “You inflicted on him what can only be described as a fearsome injury.”