This is the moment a ‘sadistic’ decorator battered a helpless one-legged man with a rolling pin while he slept in his sleeping bag.
John Allen brandished the weapon and two knives as he carried out an eight-minute attack on Ian White, a disabled man living rough on the streets of Southampton.
Mr White and two other men were subjected to ‘sustained’ abuse as they tried to sleep in the city’s Eastgate Street Car Park in the early hours of March 25.
Allen, 33, admitted possessing a weapon and assault and was handed two years and three months behind bars at Southampton Crown Court yesterday.
He was also forced to admit being in contempt of court after court staff searched him and found cannabis strapped to his leg.
In a victim impact statement, the rough sleeper said the incident had left him ‘traumatised’ and that he wakes up every three hours thinking about it.
He said: ‘I have to live with and remember this for the rest of my life.
‘I am in bad times but I am not a bad person.
‘It was sadistic and it seemed as if he was enjoying it.’
John Allen (pictured with rolling pin) launched an ‘unprovoked’ attack on one-legged rough sleeper Ian White in a Southampton car park in March
Shocking CCTV footage shown at Southampton Crown Court shows Allen, a painter decorator, batter Mr White with a rolling pin
The court heard Allen, of Southampton, initially thought two of the men knew who had stolen his ‘life source’ mobile phone and after getting into a fight with them.
At that point he ran home to collect a rolling pin and the knives.
In CCTV images shown in court, he is seen punching and spitting at the two other men before he launching an ‘unprovoked’ and ‘cowardly’ attack on Mr White.
Prosecuting, Robert Griffiths said: ‘It was a sustained attack on Mr White for eight minutes.
‘He attacked him with the rolling pin but can be seen to be lunging in with the knives on the victim.’
Allen, who worked as a roofer before becoming a painter decorator, has a string of previous convictions for offences like possessing a knuckle duster in public, battery, assault and using force to gain entry to a house.
His defence lawyer said he only carried out the attack because he thought the other two men in the car park knew who had stolen his phone
He was also forced to admit contempt of court when staff found cannabis strapped to his leg
Defending, Khalid Missouri said he and his family were ‘disgraced by his actions’.
But Mr Missouri claimed the 33-year-old had only carried out the brutal attack because he thought the men had taken his phone.
John Allen (pictured) will serve half of his sentence before he can apply for parole
He added: ‘He said he saw the person who robbed him around the entrance of the car park.
‘He believed the men would be able to show him where it was.’
Sentencing, Judge Peter Henry declared the attack was ‘unprovoked’.
He said: ‘Mr White was not capable of getting up and getting away. You struck him while he was lying down in his sleeping bag.
‘He was quite unable to get up or defend himself. You could not have thought he had anything to do with the robbery.
‘You must have realised this man was barely moving.’
He added: ‘You attacked him in a cowardly and deliberate manner.’
Allen will only have to serve half of his sentence before applying for parole. The two weeks he was given for having cannabis in court will run concurrently with it.