A HALESOWEN man who left his brother-in-law with a badly damaged hand when he viciously attacked him with a broken golf club as he made his way home from a mosque has been jailed for two years.

The victim suffered a significant injury as he tried to ward off a blow from the sharpened end of the club and it was unlikely he would ever fully recover the use of his hand.

He had to undergo two major operations to help relieve his "agonising constant pain," said Glyn Samuel prosecuting and he was still unable to straighten his hand properly.

The man pleaded with Amjad Mohammed to take him to hospital as his hand bled profusely after the attack but he was "indifferent" to his request and he drove away from the scene, added Mr Samuel.

Mohammed, of Peckingham Street, was angry at the time after a family dispute and he had earlier smashed windows in the nearby home of a relative.

He then spotted his brother-in-law as he was walking home from worshipping at the mosque and he thrust the broken end of the golf club towards his neck.

But as he made a desperate bid to deflect the blow he was seriously stabbed in the palm of his left hand, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.

Mohammed admitted causing grievous bodily harm and possessing an offensive weapon and Recorder Leonard Pyle told the 38-year-old it was clear the victim had to undergo reconstructive surgery adding, "This injury has permanently affected his life."

Nigel Stelling, for Mohammed, said his client, who had 59 previous convictions on his criminal record, had been suffering at the time from depression and a "chronic addiction to alcohol."

But he stressed that after his release from a 16 month custodial sentence imposed for motoring offences he had been taking steps to put his life back in order.

There had also been a reconciliation between him and some members of his family since the offence, concluded Mr Stelling.