Friend left with lifelong scars after attack

Kevin Vickers was viciously attacked by his pal Adam Mee, who had been “acting strangely” following the death of his father, Preston Crown Court heard.

Mee, wearing a striped orange shirt, was accompanied in the dock by three mental health staff as the court was told he struck Mr Vickers over the head four times, leaving blood spattered all over their friend’s flat in Fleetwood.

The 26-year-old, formerly of Shaftesbury Drive, Blackpool and currently of Guild Lodge, Preston, appeared calm as prosecuting, Claire Larton said: “On July 21 last year Mr Vickers was drinking at the address of a mutual friend with this defendant and the man who owned the property.

“In the early hours of the morning it was common ground the defendant was upset, his father having recently passed away. He is described as acting strangely, his behaviour being weird, Mr Vickers was trying to calm him down but he continued to behave in this fashion.

“A short time later, for no reason and without provocation, he left the living room the three men were in, went to another room and returned with what was described as a large wooden bat. It was actually the leg of a chair.

“Without warning the witnesses say all of a sudden he jumped up and whacked Mr Vickers, who was seated at the time, over the head.

“He was disorientated and confused and stumbled from the flat.”

The court heard a woman helped the victim who had suffered a deep split four inches long to his forehead which had to be stapled and stitched.

He had three further head injuries which required glueing.

The court heard the shocked flat owner returned home and found Mee mopping blood off the floor, having put his shirt in the washing machine.

He had also disposed of a bloodstained rug in a neighbour’s back yard.

Julie Taylor, defending, said he had suffered undiagnosed and untreated mental health conditions at the time, made worse by drug abuse.

Judge Christopher Cornwall imposed a hospital order on the defendant.

“You are in the best possible place at this time.”