Shropshire worker whose savage attack left colleague unconscious is jailed

Danut Ilie, 29, worked in a factory near Craven Arms.

On February 11 2018 he went to nearby Halford Farm, which provided accommodation for the workers and where Ilie himself had previously lived.

Shrewsbury Crown Court heard yesterday that there had been some previous bad blood between Ilie and another man who lived on the farm, and that on the day of the assault Ilie barged into the man’s bedroom and started raining down blows on him.

Prosecutor Miss Blondelle Thompson told the court that Ilie had moved out of the farm some months prior to the assault, but continued working at the factory.

The victim of the assault was watching television with a friend in his bedroom at the farm, which included communal areas, the court heard.

Miss Thompson said: “The complainant will say that while watching television, his door was kicked off, he can’t say by whom, but outside his door was the defendant and [another man who was not prosecuted].

“The defendant then jumped on top of him and ... punched him repeatedly around the head, face, ribs and waist until he lost consciousness.”

Blackouts

Ilie and his companion left and the victim was found shortly afterwards covered in blood, Miss Thompson said.

He was taken to hospital and found to have at least five broken ribs, a lacerated spleen and several bruises. In all he spent 10 days in hospital before being discharged, but the court heard that he recovered at home for a further three months.

The court heard from a statement by the victim that he felt “depressed and broken” following the assault and that his quality of life and earning ability had suffered while he recovered.

He continues to suffer headaches and blackouts today, Miss Thompson said.

Ilie, previously of White Meadow Close in Craven Arms, was arrested and interviewed by police but while on bail he left the country for Germany. He said that he had gone to visit his brother, who had been injured in a car accident, but the courts issued a European Arrest Warrant and he was extradited to Britain last year.

In court yesterday, Ilie’s representative Miss Debra White said: “He fully accepts the injuries that he caused and he says through me that he is sorry for injuring the complainant in the way that he did.”

Judge Peter Barrie told Ilie: “There is no suggestion that [the victim] was offering the slightest violence to anyone ... or doing anything to provoke ... the savagery with which you assaulted him.”

He handed down a sentence of five years and four months for a single charge of causing grievous bodily harm with intent, as well as a consecutive two-month sentence for breaching his bail conditions by leaving the country. If he is not deported, Ilie will serve half of his sentence in prison and the rest on licence.