Belfast Crown Court was told yesterday that a vicious attack on a couple living in New Mossley, Co Antrim, resulted in severe brain damage to the man, leaving him permanently handicapped.
Judge John Martin was told the apparent reason for the attack was concern for a woman called Ms Marjorie Taylor who spent much of her time drinking at the flat of Mr John Weir and Ms Patricia Neilly.
Noel Raymond Cooke (25), who lived with Ms Taylor and her two children at Carn Gardens, New Mossley, was jailed for eight years, and John Henry Dickson (60), from Carn Green, New Mossley, who is, Ms Taylor's step father, was sentenced to four years. The pair had pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm to the couple on May 6th, 1995.