A “DANGEROUS” man who attacked a friend with a meat cleaver because he thought he had become a paedophile has been given an extended prison sentence.

Paul Daynes, 45, had been chatting to his victim at Keighley bus station on April 6 before heading to the man’s home later that evening.

Prosecutor Philip Adams told Bradford Crown Court that after the man let Daynes into his house, he called him a “nonce”.

A fight ensued, with the two men grappling until they fell to the floor. Mr Adams said that Daynes sat on top of his victim, at which point he struck him with the cleaver “at least three times” to the back of the head.

As the defendant got up to leave, his victim tried to strike out by throwing his full wallet at him. Daynes picked up the wallet, which contained around £800 in cash, and left the house.

Mr Adams said that the victim had to be helped by a neighbour before being taken to hospital, where he was treated for four “significant wounds” to his scalp, which had to be stapled shut.

Daynes was arrested the following day at his home in Highfield Road, Keighley, with police recovering the wallet and cash from his bedside table, alongside some “blood-stained clothing”.

The court heard that Daynes had 32 previous convictions for 66 offences, and that he was subject to a suspended sentence for battery at the time of the offence.

Ashok Khullar, defending, said his client, a father-of-two, did not pose a “significant risk” to the public, and suffered from anxiety and depression. He said he pleaded guilty to charges of wounding with intent of causing grievous bodily harm and theft at the earliest opportunity.

Describing the attack, the Recorder of Bradford, Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC, said: “There was a fight, and you clearly overpowered him. When that man was face down on the floor of his home, you hit him with your cleaver not once, not twice, but at least three times.”

The court heard that in his basis of plea, Daynes explained the attack by stating: “I have recently formed a belief that the complainant was a paedophile. This upset me.”

Judge Durham Hall said: “As an explanation of this violence, it doesn’t fill this court with any confidence at all.”

In response, Daynes shouted from the dock: “I’d been showing him videos of my seven year-old daughter.”

Jailing the defendant for six years with an extended three-year licence period, Judge Durham Hall told him: “You are dangerous, in my opinion. It is proportionate to act on that.”