A GOOD samaritan who tried to prevent an attack on someone else was hit over the back of the head with a block of concrete by a thug who had been realised from jail just a day earlier, a court heard.

The incident happened in Salisbury city centre in the early hours of October 13 when the victim tried to step in between 21-year-old Joshua Jordan-Hare and another man he was chasing while armed with a concrete block.

Jordan-Hare, of Essex Square, hit him over the head with the block, leaving him requiring stitches.

Salisbury Crown Court heard on Friday that Jordan-Hare was released on bail following the assault but stole a bottle of vodka from Morrisons in Westbury five days later.

The court was told the young man has 27 offences on his record, and he asked for four other offences of theft between October 17 and 24 to be taken into consideration.

Judge Douglas Field said: “You are heavily convicted for a young man. They are often violence related and you were just released one day before committing the assault. I accept that you have had problems in your early life, but you are now 21 and you have got to take responsibility for the way you behave.

“It’s depressing to read your previous convictions – you keep going out reoffending and spending longer and longer in custody. You need to take charge of your own life and make the right decisions.”

He sentenced Jordan-Hare to 17 months in prison for assault causing actual bodily harm and theft, and ordered him to pay a £100 victim surcharge.