Jail For Horror Assault

Michael Reynolds, 50, was wearing his parachute regiment blazer when he was attacked in the late-night fracas on bank holiday Monday, May 28, last year.

His injuries were so horrific he was in a coma for 10 days and detectives feared the former red beret would die. He was saved only when medics performed brain surgery on him.

Detectives working on the inquiry codenamed Operation Spoon released gruesome photographs of Mr Reynolds on his hospital bed in a bid to shame witnesses into coming forward.

On Monday, Andrew Walden, 34, of Church Street, Littlehampton, who carried out the assault following a late-night argument at a fish shop, was jailed.

Prosecutor Richard Cherrill told the court the pair had a verbal altercation outside the Blue Ocean fish and chip shop in South Street, Worthing.

He said: "He seems to have taken exception to some sort of joke or quip by the defendant.

"Mr Reynolds then set off to the home address of a friend of his with the fish and chips he had purchased."

He said that Mr Reynolds, of Friar Walk, Tarring, and Walden had virtually no recollection of the incident.

After being arrested following the discovery of his DNA on a car next to Mr Reynolds' body, Walden told police he acted in self-defence.

Mr Cherrill said: "He said that the two had spoken outside and in due course that Mr Reynolds had acted aggressively.

"He then followed Mr Reynolds to find out why Mr Reynolds threatened him in that way and according to the defendant he said 'What is this all about?' and he said Mr Reynolds then lunged at him and he decided to defend himself, with them both going to the ground."

Mitigating, Johnathan Simpson, said: "Mr Reynolds could have banged his head on a car or the road. There could have been a subsequent attack.

"What he does remember is at some point walking away and not seeing Mr Reynolds in a pool of blood or anything like that."

Sentencing him, Judge Guy Anthony said: "The result of your actions has been to ruin the rest of the life of a victim. I am prepared to accept that it may not have been you that started off even the verbal altercation or the physical altercation which led to this.

"Whether it was self-defence that went over the top or if it was retaliation, you inflicted injuries which will have the unfortunate consequence on him for the rest of his life."

Speaking after the case, Mr Reynolds, who served in the paras for seven years in the 1970s, said: "I am not very happy about the sentence but there is not a lot I can do about it."

Speaking about his poor sight as a result of the attack, he said: "I can see somebody standing in front of me but no detail. I can't even read a newspaper."

DCI Steve Scott, who led the inquiry, said: "There was nothing to suggest that Mr Reynolds took any part, any active part, in the altercation."

Walden had originally been charged with attempted murder but after consultation with the Crown Prosecution Service, that allegation was dropped when he pleaded guilty to the less serious charge of inflicting grievous bodily harm.

However, he later tried to change his plea to not guilty, but his application was turned down by the judge and his original guilty plea to GBH was made to stand.