Jailed: Shropshire brickie behind bars for hammer attack
A bricklayer has been jailed for attacking a man with a lump hammer after he "lost it" when a wall he had built was criticised.
Mature student Terry Hampson kicked his wall down during a training course.
He launched into a tirade against the tutor and then chased a fellow student with the hammer.
The drama happened during a brick-laying course at the Oswestry campus of Walford and North Shropshire College.
Shrewsbury Crown Court heard Stuart Jones, who was also a student on the course, attempted to intervene.
Tempers flared between the two men and Hampson, 34, grabbed the lump hammer and pursued Mr Jones through the college, swinging it at his head twice – in the corridor and then again in the tutor's office.
Mr Nicholas Tatlow, prosecuting, said the victim managed to block and parry off both blows and escaped injury.
"He (Hampson) was the only mature student on the course and there was some friction between the defendant and the other students," the prosecutor said.
"On February 3 this year, the teacher had to point out a mistake the defendant had made.
"He completely lost his temper and kicked the top off his own wall before being abusive and derogatory about the tutor, the course and his fellow students."
The prosecutor told the court Hampson was asked to leave as a result of the attack and was later booted off the course before being arrested by police.
The father-of-two, from Dudleston Heath, Ellesmere, pleaded guilty to two charges of affray and assault at a previous court hearing.
Judge Robin Onions jailed him for nine months, telling him: "If you had hit him you could have been facing a really, really serious charge.
"It's a potentially deadly weapon, it's called a lump hammer for a reason.
"If people use weapons in this way then I am afraid they must expect to lose their liberty."
Mr Richard Thomas, for Hampson, said his client was a "hard-working family man" who was a self-employed builder.
"He only went on the course to try and better himself and hopefully earn more money for his family," Mr Thomas said.
"It was a genuinely isolated incident borne out of frustration."
Paul Cordey, director of North Shropshire College's Oswestry Campus, said: "The safety of our students is of paramount importance.
"We were pleased with the rapid and robust response provided by both our teaching staff and our students who acted both with unity and integrity in a difficult situation."
