A JEALOUS boyfriend has been jailed for more than four-and-a-half years after hitting a suspected love rival in the head with a hammer as he slept.

Marcus Hiscock, aged 60, attacked former neighbour-turned drinking buddy Stephen Acton in a drunken rage.

The attack took place at the home of the defendant’s partner Rachel Butler in Tonge Moor Road, Tonge Moor.

Hiscock admitted wounding and was sentenced at Bolton Crown Court on Friday.

Judge Graeme Smith said: “The reason for the offence is that you believed that there was something of a sexual nature happening between Mr Acton and Rachel Butler, with whom you had an on-off relationship, and, further, you were under the effects of alcohol.

“This is by far the most serious offence for which you have been convicted or pleaded guilty in your offending history. It was a very serious attack. It was serious because you armed yourself with a weapon and you struck Mr Acton on the back of his head, initially while he was asleep.”

Prosecutor Gavin Howie told the court the attack happened on September 20 and the victim was a friend of both Ms Butler and the defendant.

Both men stayed the previous night at her house, left in the morning and returned and the three continued to consume alcohol.

Hiscock went out for the day drinking and in the middle of the afternoon the victim fell asleep on a mattress in the lounge.

The defendant returned at 10.45pm and went to the kitchen to arm himself with a claw hammer from a tool box and then hit a vulnerable sleeping Mr Acton in the head, waking him up. It was suggested one of the blows broke the head off the hammer.

Hiscock told Mr Acton “I have lost my missus because of you” and hit him in the mouth after retrieving a pin hammer.

Mr Acton escaped into the street and Hiscock threw his footwear out after him.

Mr Howie said the victim was found by attending police officers with “relatively superficial wounds”.

Judge Smith said: “I’m satisfied there were four blows: three to the back of the head and one to the mouth, which resulted in the loss of a tooth. Thankfully the injuries are nowhere near as significant as they could have been in these particular circumstances.” The judge jailed Hiscock, of Tonge Moor Road, for 56 months after rejecting the need to impose an extended prison term on account of his ‘dangerousness’.