A York man whose unprovoked onslaught left an 80-year-old dog walker with a brain injury and several major broken bones has been given an extended prison sentence.

James Ronald Raynor, 27, already had a conviction for sexually assaulting a stranger on a cycle path in the city, throwing a step ladder at his father and luring a sex worker to a house so he could attack her, Crown Court heard.

On January 29, annoyed that his mother had given him a friendly wink, he walked out of her house and set about the 80-year-old man whom he didn’t know, kicking him at least 10 times in the head and body as the dog walker lay on the ground vainly trying to protect himself, York Crown Court heard.

“This man was in the wrong place at the wrong time,” said Judge Simon Hickey. “He was in the street walking his dog.”

He commended a passing van driver, who seeing what was happening, jumped out and detained Raynor.

In a personal statement, the dog walker said the attack had left him “black and blue” and had changed him.

He had had to spend 10 days in hospital with injuries including a bleed to the brain and several fractures to his face and shoulder.

He now had memory lapses and didn’t like to leave his house.

Raynor, of no fixed address and formerly of Tang Hall, pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm with intent.

Jailing him for five years and four months with a four-year extension to his prison licence, Judge Hickey said he was a “dangerous” offender who posed a significant risk of causing serious harm to others.

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Defence solicitor advocate Kevin Blount said Raynor needed help as he had “extremely confused and paranoid thinking”.

The attack occurred because “the defendant was struggling with his mental health,” said Mr Blount.

The court heard that Raynor was visiting his mother on January 29 when he said something nice to her and she responded with a wink.

But this triggered Raynor’s anger and he left the house and started kicking a bus stop in Osbaldwick Lane.

The 80-year-old was walking his dog along the same road and crossed over to avoid him.

But, Raynor later told police, he also made a tutting sound and in response, Raynor went after him, put him to the ground and repeatedly kicked him.

A local resident seeing what he was doing filmed the attack on her mobile phone.

Following his arrest, Raynor told police “I feel bad for him. He is an old man, I shouldn’t have done that.”

Mr Blount said Raynor’s family had hoped to persuade social services to re-instate a support worker for him, but without success.

He had shown remorse to the police, a psychiatrist who wrote a report on him to the court and a probation officer.

He was capable of showing restraint and staying out of trouble, said Mr Blount.