Gardener jailed for Clare pub attempted murder axe attack

A gardener who swung an axe he got from his truck into a man's head at a pub has been jailed for attempted murder.

David Perry, 40, "took exception" to a group, including Matthew Cutts, at the Bell Hotel in Clare, Suffolk, on 19 March 2022, Ipswich Crown Court heard.

Judge Martyn Levett said had the axe struck a thinner section of skull, Mr Cutts may have had a "permanent brain injury or death".

Perry, who was convicted in January, was given a 24-year jail sentence.

The judge said Perry "took the axe, wielded it over your right shoulder with both hands, landing it into the head of Matthew Cutts".

Perry, who had been drinking, had become aggressive and was ejected from the pub, before returning with the axe which he grabbed from his truck, the court was told.

Judge Levett said Mr Cutts, who is married with three children, "still struggles to find words" after the injury, and it "gets worse when he gets tired".

Perry, of St Margarets Place, Stradishall, Suffolk, had previously admitted wounding with intent and possessing an offensive weapon in a public place. However he had denied attempted murder.

Carolyn Gardiner, prosecuting, said that Mr Cutts, who was 37 at the time, made a "rapid recovery following surgery" but was off work and is now only working part-time.

He lost his driving licence and some of his independence, and no longer plays golf, goes fishing or to the gym, the judge said.

Claire Matthews, mitigating, said Perry's "actions that night amounted to a red mist descending".

He had not gone to the pub intending to cause trouble but "disproportionately reacted" to a situation, she said.

"It was that outburst of rage that he has regretted and felt shame for ever since."

Perry was also made subject of a restraining order not to contact any member of the Cutts family, and the judge ordered the axe be destroyed.

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