Additional reporting by Laoise Gallagher

A thug who punched a teenager before stamping on his lifeless body has walked free due to court delays.

Tesco worker Bradley Holding, who was 16 at the time, was cycling along Sheerness High Street when he was knocked unconscious by a man three times his size.

The attack left him unconscious for three days in King's College Hospital.

It took place a week before Christmas in 2019 - but because of a delay in charging Jack Taylor - described by a judge as "alarming" - he escaped with a suspended sentence.

Now Bradley's mum Stacy Holding has described the moment she found her son lying in the road and slammed the system that let his attacker walk free due to delays which she says were brought about by Covid.

She said: "When I turned up and he was laying on the floor, my heart sank to my stomach. I thought my son was dead."

The 40-year-old, of Queenborough, added: "I’m not just disappointed, I'm very angry. I think it's a disgrace that because of lockdown, he's got away with this. He's apparently turned his life around. But in that time my son suffered for the last two years. How's that fair? Because of Covid he's been let off.

"There's no justice, only for Jack Taylor. There's justice for him because he's out. He's living his life. The justice system has gone down the shoot.

"The lady who speaks to me about court dates said she's got over 30 cases that are still waiting to go to court. She said some of them should be doing time, but will they do time? Or is the judge going to say well, it's been over two years so sorry, you can go out free, and then another person suffers because they haven't had the justice? That shouldn't be right. We couldn't help Covid, no one could help Covid. The law shouldn't state that just because it's taken two years to get to court that he shouldn't be punished for what he has done to my son."

Bradley wrote in a victim impact statement: "I had two months off school. I don't go out much anymore, not on my own anyway. I haven't ridden my bicycle since 2019 which is something I really enjoyed."

He revealed he has been left with a permanent lump under his top lip.

Bradley, who is now 19, added: "I was attacked for no reason. I had no chance to defend myself. He is a lot bigger than me."

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Prosecutor Stacey-Lee Holland told how the incident was caught on CCTV and showed Taylor walking up to the teenager and knocking him unconscious.

Taylor, 28, of Plough Road, Minster-on-Sea, would later claim the youngster had insulted his mother, but Ms Holland told the judge there was no evidence in support of that claim.

The judge was told that an eye-witness heard Taylor say 'No-one speaks to my mum like that'.

"She then heard a thump, turned around and saw Bradley on the floor and a man standing over him.

"The woman shouted: 'Leave him alone. He's just a kid' She then ran over and administered first aid, " added the prosecutor.

Another witness later told police she saw the man kicking a boy who was lying on the floor and the man was standing over him in an aggressive stance.

"The defendant then casually walked away but then began swearing at her. He said: 'Yeah I did it. He slagged my mum off.'"

Ms Holland added that Taylor then called the witness a 's**g' and added he would 'do you all' while his mother shouted: 'He got what he deserved.'

Bradley was taken to King's College Hospital and treated for concussion and released on December 23.

Stacey, who is disabled, stayed in London while he was in hospital and was helped by Bradley's grandmother Nina Goodspeed and a third family member James Bayliss.

Taylor, who had a swollen right hand, was arrested and alleged that his mother had been spat at during the incident.

Read our feature on the spiralling number of court delays

He was originally charged with attempting to cause grievous bodily harm - but after discussion with lawyers the Crown Prosecution Service accepted a plea to assault causing actual bodily harm.

The judge, Recorder Edward Butler, told Taylor: "This was a gratuitous, disgraceful act of violence on a 16-year-old boy."

He added that whatever happened that day "doesn't come close" to justifying the attack.

The judge said he was suspending the 18-month jail sentence for two years and ordered him to carry out 180 hours of unpaid work and pay £2,100 in fines, compensation and court costs.