A teenager who seriously injured a man who accused him of vandalising cars has been locked up for almost three years.

Paul Hetherington had gone out in the street in Gillingham in the early hours and found his car had been damaged.

He spotted Guy Henry and asked him: "Have you got nothing better to do than kick off wing mirrors?”

Drunk Henry turned on the 48-year-old dad in Franklin Road, knocked him to the ground and kicked him several times in the head.

Henry claimed he only kicked Mr Hetherington once, but said he did not remember.

The victim was found unconscious on the ground by his partner Michelle Kelleher.

The vicious attack was later featured on TV's Crimewatch and an anonymous caller gave Henry's name as the culprit.

"It is as if from the moment I was attacked my life was flipped upside down and inside out..." - victim Paul Hetherington

The 19-year-old, of Copenhagen Road, Gillingham, admitted inflicting grievous bodily harm.

Recorder Simon Taylor QC said at Maidstone Crown Court he accepted straight away Henry acted in excessive self-defence.

"He thought you had been damaging cars in the street," he said. "You responded in self-defence to a perceived threat and you went over the top.

"I accept you were hit on the back of the head. You punched Mr Hetherington and knocked him to the ground. He says he felt a series of punches and kicks on the ground."

It was fanciful, said the judge, that Henry only kicked the victim once.

"You left him nearly unconscious," he added. "By the time he was found he was, indeed, unconscious."

The father-of-four told in a statement how he and his family had been affected both physically and mentally.

He said: "It is as if from the moment I was attacked my life was flipped upside down and inside out."

He had blurred vision, headaches and no sensation in the nerves above his eyes. His memory had been affected and his personality had changed.

Recorder Taylor told Henry: "I hope you are beginning to get the picture of the effect you had on this man."

His partner said in a statement: “Our whole lives changed that night."

Sentencing Henry to two years and 10 months in youth custody, the judge told him: "You used your shod foot to kick him multiple times.

"It is said on your behalf that you show remorse. It seems to me there is a lack of remorse."