A man who claims he was attacked with a hatchet by his actor cousin has told of feeling like he had been struck by lightning.

“I was just trying to move my body to stop the impact of the blows so I didn’t die,” said Ben Vidler. “I was trying to stay alive. I was terrified. I thought he was going to kill me.”

He was giving evidence at the trial of his older cousin Colin “Burt” Vidler, who is known for his tough guy movie roles and owns a guest house in Sheerness.

Colin Vidler, 46, denies attempted murder, an alternative charge of causing grievous bodily harm with intent, having an offensive weapon and assault causing actual bodily harm.

The prosecution allege he “savagely” attacked his 41-year-old cousin on the seafront in Sheerness, leaving him seriously injured with skull fractures and “horrendous” wounds to his back and shoulders.

A jury at Maidstone Crown Court heard Vidler, a former professional boxer who fought under the name of The Hammer, had earlier assaulted Ben Vidler outside The Playa pub in Minster, headbutting and punching him, and knocking him to the ground.

Ben Vidler said he was walking back to his cousin’s Invicta Guest House in Marine Parade when he was ambushed by him.

Film from a police body camera of Ben Vidler being treated by paramedics at the scene and then in hospital was shown to jurors.

His face was caked in blood and his back was covered in wounds.

Mr Vidler told an officer he had no idea why “Burt” attacked him: "He was like a man possessed,” he said. “I have never seen anything like it. He was trying to kill me, hence my state. It was bizarre, really bizarre.

“I love him. I’m shocked. I love him to death and now look at me. I looked up to him. We were very close.”

"He was like a man possessed. I have never seen anything like it. He was trying to kill me, hence my state. It was bizarre, really bizarre" - Ben Vidler

He said of the alleged attack: “He told me not to say a word. He walked towards me holding the hatchet at arm’s length and pointing it straight at my face.

“He demanded I turn around and started walking. I started receiving multiple blows to my back with the hatchet at every other step.

“He also hit my shoulders and my elbow. I turned around to ask him to stop and he hit me in the side of my head, above my left eye.

“It felt like I had been struck by lightning. I knew my eye was damaged. It filled with blood.”

There were several more blows, he said, to his head from the axe.

“I was just trying to move to stop the impact of the blows so I didn’t die,” he continued. “I was trying to stay alive.

“He told me not to say anything, and if I did it was going straight into the middle of my head.”

Mr Vidler said his cousin marched him to the guest house with the hatchet at the back of his head.

“He told me to sit on the step, not move and not make a sound,” he said. “I was terrified. I thought he was going to kill me.

“He told me to put my hand over my face and stop the bleeding. He said ‘Don’t move. If you try and go anywhere I’ll kill you.’”

While Colin Vidler was upstairs, his cousin said he “ran for his life”. He hid underneath a parked car for about five minutes before going to The Napier pub for help.

“I hammered on the door,” he said. “I didn’t know if I was dying. I was nearly to the ground, barely holding myself up. I had lost a lot of blood and was in a very bad way.”

He suffered fractures around his left eye and a depressed skull fracture, as well as bleeds and bruising to his brain. Metal plates were inserted in head wounds.

Mr Vidler said in the earlier violence at The Playa, he was hit by “a proper boxer’s right hook”.

Paul Jackson, defending, said it was accepted Colin Vidler used force on his cousin at the pub, but claimed he acted in self-defence. He denied making the later hatchet attack.

“He, in fact, came across Ben Vidler unconscious, already injured, helped him back to the guest house and then Ben Vidler ran away,” said Mr Jackson.

Colin Vidler then went to bed and was naked when he answered his door to police at 4am.

The trial continues.