A BOASTING thug from Dawlish has been jailed for an attack which led to his victim with no forehead.

Samuel Tooley chased victim Andrew Haynes through the streets of a seaside town and attacked him three times before knocking him unconscious onto the pavement.

He suffered a near-fatal head injury which led surgeons to remove his forehead because it was the only way they could relieve the pressure on his brain from massive internal bleeding and save his life.

Mr Haynes, aged 35, was left with the front of his face sloping backwards at 45 degrees from just above his eyes. He is still wearing a protective helmet and hopes doctors will soon fit a titanium plate.

He still has stroke-like symptoms as a result of the bleed on his brain that affected his walking and speech and forced him to give up his job as a fork lift truck driver.

The father-of-one wrote a victim impact statement which said: ‘My doctor has told me I have a 45 per cent chance of dying and a 99 per cent chance that it will take 10 years off my life.

‘I’ve had to learn to read, write and spell again. I live in fear of death and I may never be in the position to have access to my daughter. I am disabled forever.’

Tooley was with a group of friends outside a kebab shop in Teignmouth in the early hours of May 18, 2019, when he got into a confrontation with Mr Haynes.

It led to him and two others chasing Mr Haynes and attacking him three more times, during which he was punched and kicked in the head.

The final attack happened opposite an Indian restaurant at a time when Mr Haynes was already staggering around and was unable to defend himself because of earlier injuries.

Tooley punched him so hard that his head smashed onto the pavement and blood started seeping from his ears.

The attacker then posted messages of Facebook saying: ‘Kicked the f*** out of him’, ‘Knocked him Sparko’ and ‘Gone into war mode’ before apologising when he sobered up.

He was taken to a specialist unit in Plymouth where surgeons cut off his forehead to relieve the swelling from the injury at the back of his head.

He spent 19 days in a coma during which his parents were told three times that he might not survive.

Building worker Tooley, aged 23, of Carhaix Way, Dawlish, admitted causing grievous bodily harm and was jailed for two years and eight months by Judge David Evans at Exeter Crown Court.

He told him his attack had caused life threatening injuries which had a terrible effect on the victim.

Mr Herc Ashworth, prosecuting, said the incident started with a fight outside Ali’s kebab shop at around 2 am and led to Tooley and two others chasing Mr Haynes up Somerset Place.

There was a series of scuffles in which Mr Haynes was repeatedly punched and kicked to the head. It left him unable to defend himself by the time Tooley knocked him senseless onto the pavement.

Mr Haynes had been a superfit gym fanatic before the attack but now has to walk with a stick and needs help to live independently at his home in Shaldon.

Mr Simon Burns, defending, said Tooley regrets what he did and never intended such serious injury. He over reacted to a friend being attacked and acted impulsively and spontaneously.

He posted other messages on Facebook which said ‘I pray he comes through. I never meant to hurt him. I pray to God he is okay’.

Mr Burns said: ‘It was an inebriated, misguided act which was out of character. It was not something he planned and something he bitterly regrets.’

Christopher Johnson, aged 23, from Teignmouth, who took part in one of the earlier attacks, admitted causing actual bodily harm and was jailed seven months, suspended for18 months, curfewed for six months, and ordered to do 140 hours of unpaid community work.