A thug who left a neighbour blind in one eye after attacking him with a martial arts weapon has been jailed for four years.

Sebastian Sumner was told by a judge it was a vicious and premeditated attack with a frightening weapon.

Sumner lashed out at cancer sufferer Steven Tanton with rice flails following clashes over 11-months, during which both men called the police.

Maidstone Crown Court heard Sumner, 30, and 51-year-old Mr Tanton lived in separate flats in a two-storey house in Gillingham Road, Gillingham .

Anne Phillips, prosecuting, told an earlier hearing, when Sumner admitted wounding with intent, that there was a history of problems.

Sumner stormed round to victim’s home on May 23. Mr Tanton was on the telephone to police reporting the latest row when Sumner ran up to him and hit him in the face with the flails.

He struck him on the left side around his eye. Mr Tanton was taken to Medway Hospital and treated for a deep cut to his face and scalp, as well as bruising.

He could not see out of his left eye. He was referred to an ophthalmic surgeon at a London hospital.

Mr Tanton, who has also been undergoing treatment for cancer, now has just five per cent vision in the injured eye.

John Donnelly, defending, said Sumner, a carpenter, had a history of "anxiety and conflict" and just snapped.

Judge David Griffith-Jones, QC, said there could be no excuse for inflicting such a serious injury. "The affect on your victim is bound to be devastating," he said.