A WALTHAM ABBEY builder who was found with a broken back and covered in blood after a vicious attack was arrested by police for trying to defend himself.

Harlow Magistrates Court heard that police had been called to the home of Daniel Newland, 24, in Honey Lane on February 21 to reports of a disturbance.

When they found Newland in his bathroom, he handed them a canister of CS gas from his pocket telling them he had picked it up after the attack.

Andrew Clouser, mitigating, said: “One evening Mr Newland was in his room at about 3.30 in the morning. One of the other occupants knocked on his door.

"He was struck by that person and they said they wanted him out of the property. He got him out and Mr Newland was attacked by that male who had armed himself with a baseball bat.

He was struck to the face and the spine. He suffered a break on the fifth and sixth vertebrae.”

The court heard that despite his injuries Newland made it back inside his house where he armed himself with the CS gas.

Mr Clouser said his client, who had worked as a self-employed builder before the attack, was still suffering from the incident and was struggling to work again.

He told the court: “The fact of the matter is someone has been attacked so seriously they had to spend seven days in hospital.

I suggest that person isn't going to be thinking very clearly about their own actions. You have to consider the situation he found himself in.”

Newland, who now lives in the Crooked Mile, pleaded guilty in court on Monday to possession of an offensive weapon.

He was sentenced to an 18 month supervision order and ordered to complete the Think First Program. He was also ordered to pay £60 costs.