A man who attacked strangers on a drunken rampage around Maidstone has been spared jail.

Duncan Keen, of Boxley Road, was handed a 165-day prison sentence, suspended for two years, after admitting four charges of assault, carrying a knife and criminal damage.

Maidstone Magistrates’ Court heard the 33-year-old was seen in the early hours of Saturday, March 21, near Week Street by a taxi driver who stopped to let him cross the road.

When Keen, who was wearing headphones and an army-style backpack, didn’t move the motorist drove off, at which point the defendant smashed the vehicle’s window with a concrete block and told the driver to get out and fight him.

“I clothes-lined him and he went down, I walked off and didn’t know if he was alive or dead.” — Duncan Keen

He later punched a man in the face outside a takeaway and then hit him in the back of the head when he was trying to get up.

At about 3.30am the defendant approached Aiden Trainor and his friend in Market Buildings, punching Mr Trainor in the face and knocking him out — the victim woke up while undergoing a CT scan and remembers nothing about the incident.

He was later arrested and when asked why he attacked the victim, Keen, who had been drinking heavily, said he had sneered at him, adding: “I clothes-lined him and he went down, I walked off and didn’t know if he was alive or dead.”

A craft knife found in his bag was said to be a lucky charm as he had used it in a failed suicide bid.

A month after the incidents the former chef, whose life had been in a downward spiral since losing his job, assaulted two men outside The Rafters nightclub, High Street, later claiming he was a hero for intervening in a row between a couple.

Defending himself, the 33-year-old South African pleaded with magistrates to jail him as he saw it as an opportunity to get his life back on track, providing structure and stopping him harming anyone else.

But Magistrates decided Keen, who is of previous good character, would receive the best help outside prison.

In addition to the suspended sentence he must carry out 150 hours unpaid work, attend up to 80 rehabilitation meetings, and pay a £150 court charge and £100 compensation to Mr Trainor and the taxi driver.

Stories you might have missed

Teacher had sex with 15-year-old pupil

Op Stack to stay till Thursday

Woman discovers cancer - on cancer charity walk

Alert as Kent gets hotter