A NUISANCE neighbour who left a 70-year-old grandfather with shocking injuries to his face has been ordered pay him just £250 compensation.

David Freel attacked pensioner John Forrester outside the block of flats exactly a week after he hadcomplained to their landlord about him playing loud music at 4.30am.

He punched him to the ground where he kicked him twice in the head, leaving him with a black eye, a cut above his mouth and swelling over the left hand side of his face.

Mr Forrester was recovering from a heart attack and had to be taken to hospital for a CT scan tocheck for brain damage. His son took shocking pictures of his injuries which he posted on Twitter two weeks later when police had not made an arrest.

Freel aged 36, was already on a suspended sentence at the time but walked free from Exeter CrownCourt where he was ordered to pay £250 compensation because he is currently unemployed.

He claimed he lost his temper because he mistakenly believed that Mr Forrester had been filminghis flat when he had been using his phone to record the loudness of the music.

Freel, of Tor Hill Road, Torquay, admitted causing actual bodily harm and was jailed for tenmonths, suspended for two years by Judge Stephen Climie at Exeter Crown Court.

He was ordered to pay £250 compensation, do 30 days of rehabilitation activities, curfewed for three months and fined £50 for breaching the previous suspended sentence.

He told him: ‘Taking the law into your own hands when you think they have taken pictures of yourflat when they haven’t is one thing. Taking the law into your own hands and inflicting unlawful violence is another.

‘You had an arrogant attitude. The £250 compensation does not reflect the nature or severity of theinjuries.’

He said he was suspending the sentence because Freel has caring responsibilities to his son and grandmother and is assessed as a good prospect for rehabilitation.

Miss Philippa Harper, prosecuting, said Mr Forrester complained to the landlord on February 22 lastyear and was attacked a week later by Freel, who wrongly accused him of filminghis family.

Freel punched him to the ground, hit him again as he tried to get up, and kicked him twice in thehead. Mr Forrester’s  victim statement said: ‘I have recently had heart problems and this has exacerbated them.’4

Mr Paul Dentith, defending, said Freel has moved away from the flats and regrets what he did. He wrote a letter of apology and sent it with a box of chocolates.He has no record of violence and acted out of character.