A FATHER whose skull was fractured with a tin of custard wrapped in a sock says he is lucky to be alive to look after his two children.

A FATHER whose skull was fractured with a tin of custard wrapped in a sock says he is lucky to be alive to look after his children.

Stuart Newton was knocked unconscious with a single blow after being attacked on his own doorstep by Sam Harrison, 23, who was seeking to settle an argument that had started the night before.

Harrison had been arrested in the early hours following a clash at Suffolk House, Mayfield Road, Huntingdon, after Mr Newton intervened in an argument between Harrison and his girlfriend.

The next morning, Harrison, who wrongly believed his girlfriend had been hurt by Mr Newton, went to the victim’s house with his home-made weapon.

At Cambridge Crown Court last week, Harrison, of Aspen Green, Huntingdon, was jailed for 10 years for the January 8 attack, after a jury found him guilty of grievous bodily harm.

When Mr Newton, 35, heard the sentence he said he felt “physically sick” as the severity of Harrison’s attack became clear.

“This person could have taken my boys’ dad away for good,” he told The Hunts Post. “That is life itself. I just feel lucky that I can still be a dad to my boys.

“This kind of attack is something you see in films, but I am the living person in this.

“When I heard what he’d got, I felt physically sick – but it goes to show how lucky I am. It really was luck more than judgement that it wasn’t more serious.”

The single blow fractured Mr Newton’s skull and caused bleeding on the brain. He spent three days in hospital, followed by two weeks of home observation.

Doctors used 15 staples to repair the gash in the back of his head, which have left him with a nine-inch scar stretching from behind his right ear.

Mr Newton said Harrison had struck too quickly for him to react.

“I opened the door and just had time to think ‘What’s he doing here?’ before he swung at me and hit me round the head,” he said.

“If it wasn’t for the person I was staying with at the time, I don’t know what would have happened. I don’t really want to think about it.

Mr Newton has tried to shield his two children from the extent of his injuries, but said it has been difficult.

“You want to protect your kids, but I was always quite playful with them, so they knew something was wrong.

“The attack has knocked my confidence. I’m not as outgoing, and it’s slowing me down a bit. I’m more reserved.”

Anxious about his injuries, he took time to regain his confidence in his job as a window cleaner, and has since given up playing football for fear of taking another blow to the head.

“The scar is something that is there every day – I wake up and I do my hair and there it is: a reminder. This will be with me forever.”

Detective constable Andy Macdonald, who investigated, said: “This escalated from a minor scrap to a vicious, pre-planned assault which nearly cost the victim his life.

“Harrison had been detained for his own good the previous day, but, following his release, went after the victim to mete out his revenge.”