A father of three has been jailed for knocking out the teeth of a 70-year-old man after following him home from a road rage incident in Timperley.
Colin Popplewell, 47, of Derbyshire Road in Winstanley, was jailed for 12 months after pleading guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
Liverpool Crown Court heard how Richard Sutherland, a company director, was driving on Woodlands Road in Timperley on Tuesday, July 26th, when he first noticed Popplewell driving in his Audi.
The Audi undertook him as two lanes merged and he had to take evasive action to avoid a collision.
Prosecuting, Claire Jones said: “The defendant in his Audi began beeping his horn and was generally aggressive in the nature of his driving.
“While they were in slow driving traffic Mr Sutherland got out of his car and asked the defendant what the hell he was doing and swore at him and said he should not have undertaken.”
Popplewell then followed the victim to his home in Lymm at around 7pm and attacked him in front of his 69-year-old wife.
Jones added: “The defendant got out of his car and followed the complainant down his driveway, round the side of the house towards the kitchen door.
“He confronted the complainant who described him as extremely angry with his fists clenched.
“Mr Sutherland tried to calm things down and back away from Popplewell who was shouting and swearing and then proceeded to attack him, punching him several times to the head and face.”
Sutherland was taken to Wythenshawe Hospital where he had four stitches in a laceration to his upper lip with 15 stitches to his gum, and later had to undergo a two-and-a-half hour operation under local anaesthetic to remove shattered teeth and others which had been split and fractured.
Jailing Popplewell, Recorder Mary Loram said: “This was a cowardly and vicious attack on a vulnerable man in his own home and the injuries were undoubtedly serious.
“You intentionally picked on a man who was vulnerable because of his age and it was premeditated.”
She also imposed three-year restraining order to keep away from the victim.
