Hylton Castle Man left victim with “life changing injury” after punching him to the ground in Holmeside

A Hylton Castle man who left his victim with a “life changing injury” after punching him to the ground in the Holmeside area of Sunderland City centre has been jailed.

Callum Creighton, 32, was one of two people who attacked the victim in November last year, Newcastle Crown Court heard.

The man struck his head on the pavement after Creighton’s blow and said he had “lost my brain forever”.

Creighton, who has previous convictions including for the attempted murder of his brother, admitted causing grievous bodily harm without intent.

The victim was punched to the ground by another man, then after getting up was struck again “forcefully” by Creighton in Holmeside on 12 November, prosecutor Anthony Pettengell said.

He struck his head on the pavement and was knocked unconscious, but rather than try and help the man, Creighton was more concerned with finding a ring he lost from his finger during the fight.

The victim suffered brain bleeding and a fractured skull, damaging him to the point he is unable to work again. In a victim statement he said, “I have lost my brain forever.”

The other man involved in the attack admitted a less serious assault charge and was given an 18-month community order, the court heard.

In his defense, Vic Laffey said Creighton, of Cramlington Square in Hylton Castle, had expressed “extreme remorse”.

He said the attacker had been held on remand in prison since the attack and was yet to meet his eight-month-old daughter.

The court heard Creighton was jailed for 12 years in 2012 for the attempted murder of his brother, with the attack in Sunderland occurring only weeks after his release on licence.

Mr Laffey said Creighton’s alcoholic brother had subjected him to years of physical and verbal abuse and the defendant “reached the point where he simply couldn’t take it any longer”.

Because Creighton had spent 11 months in prison in remand for the Sunderland attack, he would shortly be released on licence, the court heard.

He was also ordered to pay £2,500 compensation to the victim.