A cowardly addict with “thug life” tattooed on his chest left a pub landlady with head injuries after hurling a rock through her window.

Steven Gowton, of Ramsgate, launched the jagged block of flint through The Hussar window in Garlinge, near Margate.

The missile smashed the window and cracked open Michelle Greig’s skull as she set out dining tables, causing her to collapse.

Gowton, 36, fled the scene leaving the mum in a heap on the floor fearing for her life, then tried disguising his appearance.

Bleeding heavily from her head, Mrs Greig believed she was dying while drifting in and out of consciousness.

“All I thought about was leaving my children motherless,” she told a court.

Gowton was jailed for two years at Canterbury Crown Court on Tuesday, where Mrs Greig told of the terror she suffered at his hands.

Recovering from a fractured skull, bruising to the brain and vertigo, she has since been forced to shell out on revamping her property with blast proof windows.

Speaking to KentOnline after the case Mrs Greig said she was now relieved Gowton had been locked up.

"I'm still recovering and not yet ready to go back to work and my husband Dave is running the business with our staff," she said.

"It's a new venture for us and we're first time publicans and had only had the Hussar for about 18 months, so it's been quite a rough start."

The court heard that on the day of the incident, Mrs Greig opened the family-friendly venue in Canterbury Road at about noon on New Year's Day, having taken bumper restaurant bookings.

"I'm still recovering and not yet ready to go back to work..."

While setting tables, she was struck by “the most almighty and excruciating pain” alongside blurred vision, prosecutor Eleanor Scott-Davies explained.

After being rushed to the QEQM Hospital, she underwent a number of scans and treatment for a deep scalp wound, Ms Scott-Davies continued.

But a slew of medical appointments would later reveal Mrs Greig also sustained a fractured skull, alongside a brain injury caused by the blunt force trauma.

The landlady, who only recently took over the 4-star hotel’s reins, continues to rehabilitate.

In a victim impact statement, she described having “never felt so much pain as I did on that day”.

“All I thought about was leaving my children motherless,” she added: “I believe this traumatic event will have long term negative psychological effects on me.”

She described struggling with numbness, vertigo, flashbacks, headaches and balance issues.

Her birthday celebrations were forced to be put on hold as she healed, while customers drifted from the venue through fear, the court heard.

Following Gowton’s actions police launched a manhunt, Ms Scott-Davies explained.

A CCTV probe showed Gowton, who has 36 previous convictions, leaving his address at Kennedy House, Newcastle Hill, in a hooded parka jacket and gloves.

"All I thought about was leaving my children motherless..."

After making his way six miles to The Hussar, Gowton was filmed “pacing outside” and “throwing the missile through the window” then running, Ms Scott-Davies said.

When officers soon arrested Gowton he had removed his beard and cropped his hair in a bid “to change his appearance,” the prosecutor explained.

Gowton was eventually identified following an anonymous tip-off, the court heard.

Judge Catherine Brown labelled the attack a “completely unprovoked and senseless offence”.

“You had been lurking outside of the pub and then you threw a heavy, substantial, jagged lump of flint through the window, completely uncaring as to whether someone was on the other side, who would be injured by that missile, or the shattering glass,” she added.

Kerry Waitt, mitigating, branded the attack “cowardly” but stressed Gowton was remorseful.

Gowton became “out of control” with a cocaine addiction which flowed, in part, from a traumatic childhood and growing up in the care system, he said.

Mr Waitt explained a third party had commissioned Gowton to merely smash the pub’s window, in exchange for drug money.

“This was an unprovoked, senseless and cowardly attack on Michelle Greig, he is thoroughly ashamed and remorseful and if he could put back the clock, he would,” Mr Waitt said.

Gowton, who was represented by family in the public gallery, pleaded guilty at his plea and preparation hearing to grievous bodily harm and criminal damage.