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Anthony Bird from Folkestone jailed for 13 years after hammer attack on teenagers

A man who viciously attacked two teenagers with a claw hammer leaving them nursing fractured skulls was today jailed for 13 and half years.

The “vicious and harrowing” incident left one of the victims fearing she was going to die.

Now Anthony Bird, 39, of Harbour Way has been sent to prison after admitting causing grievous bodily harm to Georgia Leizert and Demi Phodi in Dover Road, Folkestone.

Anthony Bird has been jailed for 13 and a half years after hammer attack
Anthony Bird has been jailed for 13 and a half years after hammer attack

Judge Catherine Brown told him that he had been high on a cocktail of drink and drugs on his birthday before launching the unprovoked attack.

She added: “One of your victims had been at your home and you were angry that she was there and threw her out.

“Your anger was frightening for all those remaining.”

Prosecutor Peter Forbes told the jury that the separate attacks were on the 18-year-olds, which left them with serious injuries.

She said Georgia, who had been nursing injuries from the earlier incident, returned to the house with two friends to retrieve her phone.

She knocked on the front door only to be confronted by Bird who refused to hand over her property.

The judge heard that Bird then armed himself with as a claw hammer and chased after the group and caught Georgia – striking her on the back of the head knocking her out.

Between 10 and 12 minutes later he was seen looking for Demi and boyfriend Kieran, who had run away.

“Your anger was frightening for all those remaining...” Judge Catherine Brown

Mr Forbes said he confronted the terrified Demi and as she cowered and pleaded with him, he struck her twice over the head.

She later revealed: “I remember when he hit me over my head I put my hand on my head...and I looked back at my hand and it was covered in blood.”

She said: "Since the incident I have suffered from panic and anxiety attacks and I'm scared to leave my house now. I can’t even go into town by myself."

“Since the attack I hardly socialise with my friends. I felt worthless and have had to learn to walk again. At times I have felt like a baby.”

Canterbury Crown Court (4968334)
Canterbury Crown Court (4968334)

Doctors had to insert a metal plate into her skull and she revealed there were “times when I didn’t think I would make it.”

Georgia said as she ran away she feared she was “running for my life with my heart sinking and thinking if I stopped running I was going to die.”

Defence lawyer Niall Doherty said the attack happened “in a moment of madness and must have been shocking and terrifying for the victims.”

Demi, who had been a bright and bubbly teenager, said: “I was petrified I was going to die. When he came at me with a hammer I was fearing for my life.

“I was running away from him and I still remember my heat sinking. I knew if I stopped running I was going to die.

“I kept running as much as I could but I couldn’t run anymore, even though I knew my life depended on it.”

After the blow was struck she heard a high pitch in her ears but felt no pain.

“It all felt like a dream. How could anyone do this to me? had so much planned for the future and right there I thought my life was going to end. I felt no pain. I was freezing from top to toe.”

After learning of the compound injury she felt depressed.

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