A MAN who “caved” his victim’s head in with a spanner has received a 13-year prison sentence.

In a four-day trial at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court, Gavin Grimshaw was found guilty of intentionally causing grievous bodily harm and possession of a deadly weapon in a public place.

The incident occurred in the car park of Tesco at Woodfield Retail Park in Bury, where Grimshaw stopped his vehicle in front of another man, Edward Harlick, and hit him between 25 and 35 times.

Mr Harlick was left with a depressed skull and fractured eye socket following the incident, which occurred at around 10pm on August 4 last year.

Grimshaw, aged 38, of Seddon Avenue, Radcliffe, had denied intentionally causing grievous bodily harm but admitted possession of the weapon.

A jury took around two days to come to decision on the case, after being showed CCTV of the incident, in which it appeared Mr Harlick talked to Grimshaw inside the store.

Summing up, Andrea Lock, prosecuting, told a jury that the incident was a “act of gratuitous violence, plain and simple” and was “not self-defence”.

She said: “Gavin Grimshaw got into his car and drove away before driving back, stopping his car in front of Mr Harlick and arming himself with a spanner that he had inside his car.

“Then, getting out of the car, he attacked Mr Harlick, grabbing him by the neck and hitting him repeatedly to his head between 25 and 35 times.”

Susan Hargreaves, defending, said the attack had followed a period of abuse by Mr Harlick and claimed the two men had fallen out about Mr Grimshaw’s lifestyle.

She suggested that Mr Harlick had greeted the defendant inside Tesco by calling him “gayboy” and had then made other homophobic remarks, although Mr Harlick denied the claims.

Giving evidence, Grimshaw said the man had followed him and another man around the store, calling him homophobic names and saying he wanted to fight him.

The court heard claims that Mr Harlick had told him: “I am going to burn your babies.”

He said: “I thought he was going to attack me and I was feeling scared, he came to the side of the car and shouted abuse.

“I believed that he was going to come to my house and cause trouble. I wanted to know what his problem was with me, I wanted to talk.

“I picked a spanner out of the car that I had used to change a battery with. I could see he wasn’t giving me a chance to speak to him, so I hit him. I was so scared."

Jurors were shown video of Grimshaw getting out of the driver side of a car holding something in his hand which was initially thought to be a hammer, but was then accepted to be a spanner, and knocking Mr Harlick to the floor before hitting him with the object.