Sheffield thug jailed after nearly beating man to death following dispute over a settee

A thug has been put behind bars after he nearly beat a man to death over a dispute concerning his girlfriend and the sale of a sofa.
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Sheffield Crown Court heard on February 11 how Shaun Albert, aged 38, of Woodhouse Gardens, at Woodhouse, Sheffield, had arranged a fight with the complainant but once he floored him with a punch he continued to hit him, kick him and stamp on him.

Ian West, prosecuting, said there had been a dispute between the two men after the complainant had sold a settee to the defendant but had not received payment and when he pursued this matter with the defendant’s girlfriend, Albert thought they had formed a relationship.

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Judge Jeremy Richardson QC told Albert: “You – to use ordinary language – squared up to each other. You then struck a very large blow to that man’s head and he became unconscious as a result of the hard blow and fell to the ground at which point instead of pulling away as you should you continued the assault on the unconscious victim.

Pictured is Shaun Albert, aged 38, of of Woodhouse Gardens, Woodhouse, Sheffield, who was sentenced at Sheffield Crown Court to seven years of custody after he pleaded guilty to Section 18 unlawful wounding with intent following a vicious assault on a man.

 

Shaun Albert was sentenced at Sheffield Crown Court on February 11, 2022, to seven years of custody.Pictured is Shaun Albert, aged 38, of of Woodhouse Gardens, Woodhouse, Sheffield, who was sentenced at Sheffield Crown Court to seven years of custody after he pleaded guilty to Section 18 unlawful wounding with intent following a vicious assault on a man.

 

Shaun Albert was sentenced at Sheffield Crown Court on February 11, 2022, to seven years of custody.
Pictured is Shaun Albert, aged 38, of of Woodhouse Gardens, Woodhouse, Sheffield, who was sentenced at Sheffield Crown Court to seven years of custody after he pleaded guilty to Section 18 unlawful wounding with intent following a vicious assault on a man. Shaun Albert was sentenced at Sheffield Crown Court on February 11, 2022, to seven years of custody.

"You punched him further. You stamped upon him and kicked him. It is described by some witnesses as you having lost control of yourself.

"There was bleeding from every orifice around the man’s head. He lost consciousness.”

Mr West said two men who had come with Albert restrained the defendant and the victim was taken to hospital where he remained in a coma for the best part of a week.

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He added: “Witnesses described this man on the floor with blood coming from his head, his ear and his nose and some described the blood flowing down the road.”

Mr West said the complainant suffered a nasal bone fracture, a cranial skull fracture and bruises and bleeding on his brain.

The complainant later stated that after the assault he could not continue working at a warehouse, he had to postpone a college course, was left with headaches and dizzy spells and had to move to a hostel.

Albert, who has previous convictions but none for violence, pleaded guilty to Section 18 unlawful wounding with intent after the assault on July 22 last year.

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Janice Young, defending, said: “His mental health illness contributed to his actions. He is not a man of violence. There is no violence on his record and in his right mind this would not have happened.”

She added: “What he should have done was to step back and deal with this in a different way and he knows violence is not the answer to the problem and all it does is lands him with a custodial sentence.”

Ms Young also said Albert has written a letter expressing remorse and he wants to apologise to the complainant.

Judge Richardson told Albert: “I make it clear to you – you could have killed this man without any shadow of a doubt. It is only because of the medical care he received that he survived.”

However, Judge Richardson acknowledged Albert suffers with a form of paranoid schizophrenia with an abnormal persecution complex before he sentenced him to seven years of custody.