Drunken youth jailed for attack on pensioner

Nathan Gilbank brutally beat grandfather Irvine Rowney when he went to investigate noises outside his home in Swallownest, South Yorkshire, leaving him with a blood clot in his brain and numerous injuries to his face.

Yesterday at Sheffield Crown Court Judge Simon Lawler QC lifted reporting restrictions on identifying Gilbank, who was just 17 when he carried out the attack on the defenceless 78-year-old.

On May 29 last year Mr Rowney, who is just 5ft 5in, ventured outside in his slippers after hearing a noise in his garden. There he found Gilbank, who had been kicking the garden fence.

Gilbank ordered Mr Rowney to go back inside his house, before punching him twice in the face and kicking him in the legs and chest after he fell onto all fours.

The teenager then fled, leaving the heavily bleeding pensioner for dead in the back yard. It was only by chance a boy passing in a car with his father spotted Mr Rowney's limp arm hanging over the garden fence and raised the alarm.

Mr Rowney suffered serious injuries including a fractured eye socket, permanent sinking of the eyeball, a broken nose, a suspected rib fracture, two black eyes and a cut above his left eye which needed seven stitches. He also suffered a blood clot in the brain which required treatment over several months.

Gilbank, from Treeton, Rotherham, initially pleaded guilty to unlawful wounding but, after a review, the charge was changed to unlawful wounding with intent, to which he pleaded guilty on the first day of a trial last month.

Jailing him for five years, the judge said Gilbank had carried out a "wicked attack on a vulnerable old man" which amounted to "unnecessary, unprovoked and sustained violence".

Speaking outside Sheffield Crown Court after the sentencing, Mr Rowney's daughter, Lynn Markell, 55, said her elderly father was still suffering from the effects of the attack.

"This was an attack carried out in a moment of madness," she said. "If it had not been for the prompt action of the neighbours there could have been a much worse outcome.

"As a result of this attack my father has lost his confidence and independence. He is virtually housebound at the moment.

"I hope that five years is enough time for this young man to learn the seriousness of the consequences of his actions."

Mrs Markell added that she felt "sadness and anger, but mainly sadness toward my father's attacker".

"Sadness because he was not able to put his energy into something more substantial.

"I still believe it is only a small percentage of young people today who are out of control in society. I have a 17-year-old son myself and he would not dream of talking to someone like he did, let alone punch him.

"I believe there was intent on that day. It was a moment of madness that carried on a little bit too long for my liking and alcohol is no excuse."

Det Sgt Rob Platt, from South Yorkshire Police, added: "It was a shocking and mindless attack by someone who clearly was not thinking at the time."