by Keith Hunt

A thug who attacked a neighbour with a hammer after going to complain about noise has been jailed for 20 months for wounding.

Kevin Richardson admitted striking Darren McGimpsy with the claw hammer but claimed the most serious injury to a finger was caused by a knife the victim had.

Maidstone Crown Court heard Richardson, 44, was at his girlfriend Toni Page’s home in Hughes Drive, Wainscott, on September 23 last year when the trouble started.

He went to alcoholic Mr McGimpsy’s flat to complain about noise with the hammer concealed in the back of his trousers.

Richardson said in his basis of plea that they argued and he became aware Mr McGimpsy had a knife in his hand.

“Believing I was about to be attacked, I struck Darren McGimpsy to the face,” he stated. “He fell to the ground. I accept that while on the floor I further struck him to his body a number of times.

“I accept this was excessive self-defence. I do not accept the injury to his left hand was caused by the hammer, but accept it was caused during the incident.”

Nina Ellin, prosecuting, said Mr McGimpsy needed stitches in the wound.

Richardson, of Archway Court, Strood, denied wounding with intent and his guilty plea to unlawful wounding was accepted.

Miss Page, 29, now of Bill Street, Frindsbury, denied both charges and no further evidence was offered against her.

Miss Ellin said Richardson had convictions dating back to the 1980s, including some for violence.

Judge Michael Carroll said he was not persuaded he could deal with the matter without imposing a jail sentence.

“Anyone who goes round to a neighbour’s house with a hammer in his pocket, knowing there is likely to be problems with a clearly very difficult neighbour...that is, if I may say so, asking for trouble.

“This was a sustained assault. There was use of a weapon. The only mitigation I can find is this was an isolated incident.”

The judge said Richardson had only been at the address a few weeks and it was not a case of somebody being at their wit’s end after months or years of torment.