A DRUG user who broke his own brother’s jaw has been told by a judge that he acted ‘like a complete madman’.

Alex Amos had spent the entire day in a rage after a row with his girlfriend and took out his fury by smashing up his mother’s home and attacking his brother Joshua.

They had always got on well before and have since been reconciled, but on that day, he told him ‘every time I see you, I’m going to beat you up’.

He was at a low point after giving up a job at Amazon and starting to use drugs again after a spell away from them.

Amos, aged 31, of Haytor Terrace, Newton Abbot, admitted causing grievous bodily harm and criminal damage and was jailed for nine months, suspended for two years, and ordered to do 180 hours of unpaid community work by Recorder Mr James Freeman at Exeter Crown Court.

He told him: ‘It is clear there was a very difficult situation in your family home and you behaved like a complete madman. It must have been very worrying for your family.

‘You punched your brother around the face really badly although he made it clear he did not want to fight you. You broke his jaw with a displaced fracture that took a long time to mend.

‘I am not making an order for compensation because this is a family case and for one reason or another, your family seem to have resolved matters.’

Mr Nigel Wraith, prosecuting, said the offences started at his mother’s home in Newton Abbot on June 26 when he became angry and volatile.

He smashed four banister rails and some plant pots and confronted his brother twice, punching him in the face even after he told him ‘I don’t want to fight you, I’m your brother’.

Mr Richard Crabb, defending, urged the judge to follow the suggestion of a probation report which said Amos was struggling to cope with the death of his grandmother at the time.

He suffered mental health problems which led him to give up his job at Amazon and start mixing with bad influences who re-introduced him to drugs.

He is now receiving help for the underlying issues.