VIDEO: CCTV showed Lee Harvey punching, kneeing and kicking a man on a Gresham street in Middlesbrough
CLEVELAND POLICE PICTURE
Lee Harvey
A street attacker who stamped on a man’s head three times and left him lying unconscious on the ground has been jailed for five years.
CCTV showed Lee Harvey punching, kneeing and kicking a man on Enfield Street, Gresham, Middlesbrough.
The 26-year-old admitted stamping on him wanting to knock him out, to “neutralise” him and “take him down”.
He’d told a jury he thought he was doing the right thing on August 30 last year.
Sentencing him yesterday, Judge Peter Bowers said: “You did stamp on his head while he was unconscious, and left him there lying in the road.”
The video showed the victim knocking on a house door.
He argued with a woman at the house before Harvey emerged from the home and pushed him into the road, Teesside Crown Court heard.
Prosecutor Rachel Masters said it was a sustained attack where the victim tried to defend himself but Harvey overpowered him.
She said Harvey pushed, held and punched the man, putting him to the ground.
Then he kneed him and kicked him on the ground, one witness said “like a football”.
The footage showed the victim unconscious in the middle of the road until another man dragged him to the side.
He suffered a punctured lung and bruises to the eye and jaw.
He had fractured ribs but it could not be proved that Harvey was responsible as he’d also been assaulted two days earlier.
Harvey, of Valley Road, Grove Hill, Middlesbrough, admitted affray but denied attempting to inflict grievous bodily harm with intent.
He was convicted of that charge by a jury after a short trial earlier this month.
Harvey told jurors the victim tried to grab him and threatened to stab the woman.
He said: “I thought he was going to stab me as well. I thought I’ll just take him down.”
He claimed he was in fear of his life when he had the man on the ground.
He said he acted to prevent an assault, stop the man reaching into his pockets and keep him on the ground.
He added: “I didn’t put full force but I did stamp on his head. I didn’t intend to cause any injury to him. I just tried to shock him, to give him a warning, to say leave her alone.
“I thought I was doing right at the time but obviously I wasn’t.”
He was previously jailed for three years for grievous bodily harm in 2006 and received an extended sentence for assault and affray in 2009.
At the time of the attack he’d been out of prison for three years and just finished his licence period.
Brian Russell, defending, said yesterday: “Trouble came to his door rather than him seeking it out.
“It doesn’t excuse what happened thereafter.
“He felt at the time he was doing the right thing. He realises he lost control.
“He’s now demonstrating a degree of maturity and realises that he can’t behave in this way.”
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