Vigilante, 21, who boasted about hammer attack on sex offender jailed

A vigilante thug who boasted to police he had 'smashed a nonce' after a violent hammer attack on a convicted sex offender has been jailed. 

Joshua Lea, 21, battered his victim in an Aldi car park after pulling out a hammer hidden in his sock. 

The bearded yob smashed the freed sex offender around 20 times across his head and face as he tried to protect himself from the onslaught. 

Lea - who is a twice-cautioned sex offender - was one of three men who attacked the man during the savage daylight assault in Haverfordwest, south-west Wales.

After pounding his victim, Lea then told cops it was a targeted attack, before adding: 'I smashed a nonce.'

He has now been jailed for 15 months after pleading guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm and possession of an offensive weapon.  

The violence exploded on August 25, Swansea Court Court heard. 

Lea was joined by two other men as they ambushed their victim, who was rushed to hospital before discharging himself. 

The thug initially claimed he had 'b***h slapped' the man in self-defence before changing his story, reports the Western Telegraph.

Prosecutor James Hartson said the attack was 'somewhat ironic' given Lea was a twice-cautioned sex offender.

He added: 'The motivation of this assault is clearly revenge.'

Lea later admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm and possession of an offensive weapon. 

The court heard Lea had 12 previous convictions for 27 offences, including seven for violent offences. 

Judge Geraint Walters warned the thug if the victim had been more seriously hurt, Lea could have been jailed for eight years.

He sentenced Lea to 12 months but added an additional three months after revoking an existing community order. 

'The courts over the years have given you one community order after another. And they have achieved absolutely nothing,' the judge said.

'You yourself have recognised that this is an opportunity for yourself to change.

'For once, you are getting some structured intervention in the prison which you were not getting in the community.'

The victim was granted a five-year restraining order against Lea.