A Heybridge thug has been jailed for three years for battering a man unconscious with a metal pole.
David Holroyd, 39, was left with a broken jaw, broken cheekbone and broken nose after the attack by traveller Wayne Buckley, 26, on 12 July last year.
As he jailed Buckley, of Hillar Close, Heybridge, who had pleaded not guilty but was convicted of wounding Mr Holroyd on 12 July last year Judge Silas Reid told him it was a serious assault and the only sentence was prison.
The judge at Chelmsford Crown Court continued : "This was a dangerously persistent and prolonged attack with a weapon. He was walking away from you and going home and it took place in front of his wife.
"It was an absolutely terrifying incident to see and his wife was left screaming in fear."
The court had been told during the trial that trouble between the two men flared after an argument over quad bikes which Mr Holroyd claimed had been stolen some ten years previously. They squared up to each other but then Buckley took the pole from the back of a car and used it on Mr Holroyd.
Mr Holroyd told the court that he had been angry, upset and shouting at the time and might have made some rude remarks about Buckley's links to the travelling community.
Buckley had claimed in his defence that Mr Holroyd went to punch his father, so he pushed his dad out of the way but was then struck in the chest.
He claimed : "I punched him back, in the face, with a clenched fist."
He claimed he only punched him once and Mr Holroyd's injuries might have been caused when he fell on top of him.
He denied getting anything out of the boot or kneeling over him and striking Mr Holroyd with an object.
His lawyer, Gavin Burrell, said Buckley had expressed remorse and was sorry for what had happened.
