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Man jailed for attacking gay flatmate with hammer

By Sam Rigby

A man who attacked his gay flatmate with a hammer has been sentenced to 14 years in jail.

Joseph Williams attacked Connor Huntley while he slept on his first night in their Margate flat, leaving the claw of the hammer sticking out of his head, BBC News reports.

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Huntley was rushed to hospital after Williams made a 999 call telling authorities that he had killed him. He was treated for a depressed skull fracture and a penetrating brain injury.

Speaking to Kent Police, Williams said: “I did it… I hit him on the head with a hammer in his sleep. As you are talking there is a body in my flat and my mental health’s deteriorating as well.”

Despite claiming that the attack came about as a result of his poor mental health, Crown psychiatrists said that he had been seen by doctors a few weeks earlier and was found not to need treatment. The court also heard that Williams had made homophobic remarks in the past.

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However, he will spend much of his jail term in a secure mental facility, after being found guilty of attempted murder.

Judge Jeremy Donne told Williams: “On May 28, 2013 you picked up a hammer, went into the bedroom of your sleeping flatmate and brought it down two times on his head. Not only did it fracture his skull but it was embedded in his brain.

“The injuries suffered by Connor Huntley were little short of catastrophic. They were life changing. He will be never be able to enjoy all the things that young people enjoy doing.”

Huntley has been left with epilepsy and is unable to live independently. His family have asked for “time and space to concentrate on Connor’s physical and mental rehabilitation”.

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