AN ATTACKER jailed for his part in a ‘frenzied attack’ on a Good Samaritan has been released after serving ten weeks of his ten-month sentence.

Nathan Alderton, 21, was among a drunken gang who set upon Robert Hanson ‘like a pack of wolves’ after he challenged them for ripping bags left outside a Southbourne charity shop.

Bournemouth Crown Court heard how Mr Hanson, 32, had been repeatedly punched and kicked on February 26 last year while lying defenceless on the pavement.

The late-night attack involving Alderton from West Howe Close, Bournemouth, Matthew Scrimshaw, 20, from Highlands Crescent, Bournemouth, Zak Bond, 19, from South Kinson Drive, Bournemouth and Troy Gordon, 20, from Chaldecott Gardens, Bournemouth was witnessed by shocked passers-by.

Badly bruised Mr Hanson needed hospital treatment for facial injuries. He also suffered cuts to his elbow and knee.

All four defendants admitted assault, occasioning actual bodily harm, and were locked up for ten months after sentencing Judge John Harrow told them they had set upon Mr Hanson ‘like a pack of wolves’ and ‘behaved like four young thugs’.

Alderton was released earlier this month after serving just over a quarter of his sentence. His co-defendants are still in a young offenders’ institution.

A woman who contacted the Daily Echo after discovering Alderton had been released said: “I would like to know how and why, after only two and a half months, he was released. Even if it was all done by the law books he should have served a minimum of five.”

The woman, who does not want to be identified, added: “The justice system in this country is a joke – the criminal is treated as the victim.”

A Prison Services spokesman said: “We taken the safety of the public extremely seriously. A home detention curfew is available to low risk prisoners serving sentences of more than three months and less than four years, who are deemed appropriate for early release.

“To be placed on HDC, a prisoner must have served a quarter of their sentence and spent a minimum of 30 days in prison.”

'I learned my lesson'

NATHAN Alderton told the Daily Echo how he had been released early because of overcrowding.

Speaking candidly at his West Howe home he insisted that he had ‘learned his lesson’ after spending time behind bars in a tough prison.

Alderton said: “I was sent to a maximum security prison in Milton Keynes. People like me aren’t supposed to be there; it was horrendous.

“Some people go to prison, then don’t offend any more. It’s put the fear of God into me. Rather than going to their local prison, people should be shipped all over the country. I guarantee they wouldn’t be so big and cocky then.

“I tried to keep myself to myself as much as possible because I was serving my time with murderers. I didn’t tell people how long I had got when they had five or ten years or would never get out.

“I am on a tag at the moment; it’s not like I can come and go as I please. I was interviewed for it and you have to meet certain criteria.

“I behaved myself and didn’t get into trouble, I just buckled down. I work, I have never claimed benefits, and all that went in my favour.”

Alderton was in Woodhill, a category A prison with a close supervision centre. He claimed that he had tried to break up the assault which paved the way for his jail sentence, telling Mr Hanson to leave before violence flared.

He described his co-defendants as otherwise ‘decent people’.

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