The nervous victim of a brutal attack is considering fleeing the country for fear he’ll be targeted again.

Paul Clancy, 54, fractured Alex Beavis’ face with a flurry of punches and a single headbutt, as he sat on a bench with friends in Cliftonville.

Now, Mr Beavis wakes up shaking, sweating with nerves, and has quit his job and moved away in case violent thugs hunt him down.

Clancy battered Mr Beavis so hard in Cliftonville, near St Paul’s Church in Northdown Road, he suffered a broken eye socket and chin.

Terrified, the victim would go on to live with a chair wedged against his front door and jump in fright to the sound of loud voices outside.

Prosecutor Steven Attridge also told a court Mr Beavis “no longer feels safe” after the assault in July last year.

Clancy, who admitted punching Mr Beavis twice, claimed he acted in self-defence and denied one charge of wounding.

But a jury took just an hour-and-a-quarter to find Clancy, of Church Road in Hoath, guilty.

Judge Mark Weekes jailed Clancy for two-and-a-half years for the “very serious crime”.

“Before I could say anything Mr Beavis kicked me in the shin so I hit him twice in the face...”

Neighbour Jackie Hurn told the jury Mr Beavis “looked like a Cabbage Patch doll” following the unprovoked attack, in a previous hearing.

Mr Beavis told the court: “It was the worst headbutt. I was a sitting duck. A few seconds later there were three heavy punches to the right side of my head.”

He explained how he and Miss Hurn lived in different flats in the same building in Cliftonville.

She had been having problems with her hot water supply so on July 3 last year he told her she could use his flat for a shower.

He went to talk to her through her window but changed his mind when he saw someone inside with her.

Mr Beavis walked to the church, saw some friends and sat down on a bench.

“After about half-an-hour the chap I recognised from the flat came up,” he said.

“He became highly agitated and said he was going to stamp on me which I thought was bizarre. He disappeared and about 10 minutes later he came round the corner with Clancy and I heard one of them say ‘Is that him?’.”

Mr Beavis said Clancy then headbutted and punched him.

“I hadn’t done or said anything,” Mr Beavis said. “I was gushing blood.”

A CT scan revealed multiple fractures to his face, including his right eye socket and chin.

Jason Dunn-Shaw, defending, said the man Mr Beavis saw in the flat was James Harrington, Miss Hurn’s then partner.

Mr Beavis denied that he had threatened or intimidated him and also denied that the headbutt was an accidental clash of heads.

“No way, shape or form was this a collision,” he said. “It was a deliberate headbutt.”

Clancy, 54, said he was in Miss Hurn’s flat with her and Mr Harrington. Mr Harrington went out and returned, saying three youths had been abusive to him and he was scared.

“He became highly agitated and said he was going to stamp on me which I thought was bizarre..."

Clancy said he would go and have a word with them and they went to the bench by the church.

“Before I could say anything Mr Beavis kicked me in the shin so I hit him twice in the face,” Clancy said. “I got hold of him and as I leaned down we caught heads.”

He denied intending to cause any injuries. “It was self-defence and our heads clashed,” he added.

However, the jury found him unanimously guilty of wounding last Wednesday.

Mitigating, Mr Dunn-Shaw said Clancy had made “significant strides” since the crime.

But his progress in cleaning up a drug addiction could be impeded by an immediate prison sentence, he said.

To read more of our in depth coverage of all of the major trials coming out of crown and magistrates' courts across the county, click here.

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