A DRUNKEN attacker has been jailed for battering his own mother so savagely with a vacuum cleaner pipe that he broke three of her ribs.

Thomas Williams was angry with the 75-year-old because of a family dispute and smashed his way into the home in Totnes before assaulting her and her partner.

His mother, Diana, suffered three broken ribs and her partner Peter Peers less serious injuries.

Williams has a long record of drunken violence and had previously been jailed threatening police with an axe during a 15 hour siege in Lustleigh, near Newton Abbot.

He was upset because his mother would not tell him where his young son was being looked after and went to her home drunk to demand she tell him.

Williams, aged 37, of no fixed address and previously of Mapstone, Lustleigh, and Lower Collapark, Totnes, admitted assault causing actual bodily harm, battery, and criminal damage.

He was jailed for a year and eight months by Judge David Evans at Exeter Crown Court, where he praised his mother and her partner for the efforts they have made to help him over the years.

The Judge told Williams: ‘You suffer from some mental health and neurological impairment but retain some responsibility, given your decision to drink to excess, which you know leads to aggressive behaviour and loss of control.

‘You made the deliberate decision to make an unwanted entry and demand the address of your son.

‘When the police were called, you resorted as you have done so often in the past when in drink, with violence and the use of weapons.

‘You assaulted Mr Peers in his own home and your mother, who has been so supportive.’

Mr Thomas Faulkner, prosecuting, said the attack happened last November and Williams caused £500 damage at the house.

His mother, who walks with a stick, suffered fractures to her tenth, 11th and 12th ribs after being hit with the pipe.

Williams has convictions for 162 previous offences including 28 assaults.

Mr William Parkhill, defending, said Williams suffers from mental illness and other impairments and has not always received the help and support he needs from the authorities.

He said it is hoped that a better package could be put together when he is released to minimise the risk of reoffending.