A homeless man who battered a street drinker and left him for dead has been jailed for five years.

Bristol Crown Court heard Iain Wintle had "rage in his face" when alcoholic Andrew Walker, 59, collapsed onto his tent in Castle Park.

After trying to shift him, Wintle, who had been drinking and taking drugs, got hold of a rubber camping mallet and pummelled him around the head six times.

He fractured Mr Walker's skull, causing brain damage, before dragging his lifeless body away.

Mr Walker then lay in the park for nearly two days before he was found, and at first his injuries were thought to be fatal and surgery was unlikely to help.

Wintle, 22, was charged with attempted murder but his guilty plea to causing grievous bodily harm with intent was accepted.

The Recorder of Bristol Judge Neil Ford QC told the court Wintle had a "difficult" upbringing, had offended when he was at his lowest ebb and should leave prison having had time to mature.

The judge said it was a doctor's view that Wintle represented a low risk of re-offending. He told Wintle: "I do not find you to be a dangerous offender."

Rupert Vining, prosecuting, earlier told the court it was in the early hours of June 19 last year when witness Kelly Gould saw Mr Walker stumble into Wintle's tent and tried to pull him away.

Ms Gould described how Wintle, who she knew as Mojo, also tried to shift him and, when he got no response, said: "Any minute now I'm going to get my hammer and whack him over the head."

Shortly after, Ms Gould said she saw Wintle with "rage in his face" as he struck his victim repeatedly over the head and heard his skull crack.

After the attack she and Wintle dragged Mr Walker to a tree, where she could see his stomach moving.

Wintle then told her: "Don't panic, I've got rid of the hammer in case the pigs find me, go to sleep and forget it happened."

Just over an hour later, Ms Gould went to Mr Walker, checked his pulse and could still see his belly moving.

After 36 hours, Mr Walker was found. As well as his head injuries, a broken thumb suggested he had tried to defend himself.

Although Wintle was arrested, he gave no account of what happened to police, Mr Vining said.

But he told the court a log was kept of a telephone conversation Wintle had with his mother, in which he told her: "He wouldn't go away. I had too many drugs and that. I wasn't in my character and I'm paying the price for it. He's getting better apparently."

Ignatius Hughes, defending, stressed Wintle had admitted GBH with intent at the earliest opportunity and had used a rubber hammer in the attack.

He told the court Wintle was 14 when his father died and he was 15 when he was expelled from school. He had spent three years on two different college courses, had worked as a chef in Brixham for two years and was of previous good character.

Wintle had been assessed as having a borderline personality disorder.

Mr Hughes said: "For two months he was homeless. He started using enormous quantities of alcohol and was given heroin."

Mr Hughes also said it was unclear as to how two previous head injuries suffered by Mr Walker had a bearing on his brain injury.

Detective Constable Rachael Webb told the Evening Post: "This was an unprovoked and violent attack and we are pleased that the defendant has been brought to justice and appropriately sentenced, and that the victim is making a good recovery."

The judge also ordered the forfeiture and destruction of Wintle's rubber mallet.