A GRANDAD has slammed the sentence given to a thief who left him with a broken hip during a robbery at his home.

Robert Everiss, 50, and his family were about to leave their home in Reedley to go for dinner when he spotted a man getting out of his car and the glove box was open.

He followed him down the street and grabbed hold of him but he was knocked to the floor leaving him seriously injured and unable to get up.

Police arrived and some of the stolen haul was recovered.

The defendant was later arrested after his fingerprints were found on the victim's car door.

Drug addict Andrew Purvis, 29, of Cronkshaw Street, Burnley, was arrested and admitted theft and inflicting grievous bodily harm when he appeared at Burnley Crown Court. He was jailed for 15 months.

But Mr Everiss, who works as an IT engineer and has three grown up children, has hit out at the sentence.

He said: “I think the judicial system in England is totally wrong, he did not get a long enough, he will be out again soon and do it again, or possible worse.

“I was in a lot of pain for weeks and had to rely on painkillers and use crutches.

"It ruined my Christmas and I wasn’t able to windsurf, which is one of my hobbies.

“I couldn’t drive for four weeks. I am self employed and rely on my car for work, so lost earnings as well.

“I still have a limp and am worried about the long term problems, especially when I’m older.

“It has made me a lot more cautious around people and security aware.

“At the time I had wanted to bop him but thought that I would have been arrested by the police If I had.”

Burnley Crown Court heard that just weeks before the incident last December, Purvis had been given bail for waving a sword around inches from a man's face in a busy Burnley street.

The melee took place in the middle of a busy Saturday afternoon.

He admitted affray and possessing an offensive weapon during the same trial.

Recorder Andrew Long told him Mr Everiss was a "perfectly respectable" man who had continued to suffer difficulties with his injury.

Sarah Stratham, prosecuting, told the court last September there was an altercation between the defendant and a group of men on Hawk Street.

A passer-by saw Purvis with the sword, said to have a foot-long blade, down the back of his trousers.

The defendant waved it near the man's face. Police were called and Purvis was parva sprayed.

Philip Holden, defending, said: "The defendant is a thorough nuisance.”