A hammer attacker who left a man needing lifelong care has been jailed for more than a decade for the murder attempt.
Barry Madley savagely beat Steven Davidson, 48, with a claw hammer at his home in Stewart Court, Methil, on February 14 2020.
The court heard Mr Davidson suffered severe and irreversible brain damage and will be permanently disabled.
His family aim to get him home but for the foreseeable future, he will remain in a care home.
Madley, 53, initially denied to police he had hit Mr Davidson but later told his mother: “I fractured the boy’s head with a hammer.”
Madley, formerly of Stewart Court, Methil admitted attempting to murder Mr Davidson by repeatedly hitting him on the head to his severe injury, permanent disfigurement and impairment and to the danger of his life.
He was imprisoned for 10 years and nine months at the High Court in Glasgow this week.
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The court heard Madley had frequently visited the home of his victim in Methil.
Madley claimed they were friends but Mr Davidson’s family deny this.
After the hammer attack, Mr Davidson was able to call a friend for help, telling him: “Baz has just been across and battered me with a claw hammer.”
However, his condition means he cannot remember the attack.
In hospital, Mr Davidson was placed in a medically-induced coma and scans revealed skull and eye socket fractures and internal bleeding.
During a nine-hour overnight operation, he had three steel plates fitted in his head.
Surgeons had to remove his teeth during the procedure.
He stayed in a coma for 17 days.
Mr Davidson’s mother Margaret, visisted her son’s flat that night and he did not answer the door.
She believes his attacker was still there.
The family told The Courier how they are rebuilding their shattered lives and trying to get 48-year-old Steven fit enough to see his son, who lives in Canada.
Fife family rebuilding lives after devastating hammer murder bid
