A THUG headbutted and punched a man before beating him with a hatchet hammer, a court heard.

Matthew Hynam attacked the man after he threatened to ‘tell on him’ to building staff for breaking the rules.

Prosecutor, Paul Fairley, told Bournemouth Crown Court that a fight broke out between the two men in their accommodation on Shaftesbury Road in Bournemouth on April 19.

It was said that the defendant armed himself with a weapon consisting of a hatchet on one side and a hammer on the other.

Hynam argues that the man entered his room in the middle of the night asking for money for alcohol and threatened to tell staff that the defendant had a woman in his room, which was against the rules.

However, this was not agreed by the prosecution.

Mr Fairley said that during the fight the defendant headbutted the victim, hit him with the hammer at least twice, punched him and made threats to kill him.

The man was left with fractures to his nose and required surgery.

Mitigating, Laura Duff, argued that the hammer was not considered a highly dangerous weapon and that it was not used as a bladed article.

She added that the incident was not prolonged and that the injuries sustained were “not particularly severe”.

It was said that Hynam regrets the incident and is “deeply sorry”.

She said the defendant had a “very unpleasant childhood” and not only witnessed abuse between his mother and father but was subject to it too.

Hynam also has a limited education and stopped going to school at around the age of nine or 10 because his step-father was a traveller.

The defendant was said to suffer from PTSD, anxiety, depression and has a history of self-harm.

He used to struggle with drug abuse but has been clean of serious drugs for nine years.

“It is something he has worked very hard to get away from,” said Ms Duff.

Hynam, 44 and of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Judge Robert Pawson said the victim offered “minimal confrontation” and that it did not explain the defendants behaviour.

He stated that the victim was vulnerable due to his age, build and being homeless at the time seeking temporary accommodation.

Hynam has 34 previous convictions for 108 offences over 32 years, with the judge calling him a “prolific burglar”.

The defendant was jailed for two years and four months.