A FEROCIOUS New Year’s Day attack on two sleeping men in a house in Workington left one blinded in one eye and the other with a brain injury so serious he is now in a persistent vegetative state.

The man most seriously injured in the drink-fuelled violence inflicted by Jamie Elston, 32, and his friend David Ratcliffe, 34, is now confined to a hospital bed, unable to walk, speak, or feed himself, Carlisle Crown Court heard.

The two thugs responsible were today given long jail terms after they admitted two counts of intentionally causing grievous bodily harm.

Elston, of Iredale Crescent, Workington, was jailed for 21 years, with his licence period extended by five years at the end of that term, while Ratcliffe, of Falcon Place, Workington, was jailed for 21 years and seven months.

His licence period – the period for which he will be at risk of recall to prison – was also extended for five years beyond the end of his specified sentence.

Brendan Burke, prosecuting, described how the two victims had spent New Year’s Eve of 2021 together at the home of the two men in Workington.

During the evening, they exchanged messages with their children but both men then fell asleep in the living room. At 3.30am the following day, Elston and Ratcliffe forced their way into the property through the front door.

“Little is known about the purpose of the attack, save to say that each victim had previously been in a relationship with the previous partners of the defendants,” said Mr Burke.

“The best the Crown can do is to suggest that this attack arose out of some perceived offence to the demonstrably fragile sense of masculinity of the defendants.”

The defendants had been drinking since lunchtime and had taken cocaine.

Describing how the attack began, the barrister said: “The victims woke to find the defendants standing over them.”

Elston was heard telling Ratcliffe: “Go get a knife; we might as well kill them now.” He then smashed a vacuum cleaner between the two men and used a hammer to smash their mobile phones.

Ratcliffe then began kicking and punching one of the men, saying: “You shouldn't have went near her...” Elston, meanwhile, attacked the other man.

“Both defendants were kicking the victims to the head and body. [One of the victims] tried to defend himself but was unable to get off his position on the sofa, such was the ferocity of the attack. The attack was sustained.”

The man who was left blinded later told police he feared the attackers would kill him and his friend. During a pause in the violence, Elston told the badly injured victims that if they contacted the police the homes of their parents’ would be burned down.

Ratcliffe then smashed a coffee table and pulled out a ceiling light before the attack resumed and this was when one victim passed out. It was not until several hours later that concerned neighbours found the two badly injured men.

One was lying face down over an armchair, unconscious, while his friend was sprawled face up on the sofa. Blood was splattered across the walls.

The injuries of the man less seriously hurt included a fractured nose, multiple cuts to his mouth and optic nerve damage that left him permanently blind in one eye. The second man was airlifted to Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary, where he was placed on a life-support machine.

His brain injury was so severe he is now bedbound, fed by a tube and unable to walk or talk, though he can respond to questions by blinking. There is no long-term prognosis, but there are plans to move him to a hospice, said Mr Burke.

Some 15 months after the attack, he remains confined to his hospital bed, able only to blink or squeeze a relative's hand in response to questions or conversations, the court heard.

Doctors have told his family that the longer he is in this condition the less likely it is that he will ever recover.

Passing sentence today, Judge Ian Unsworth KC told the two defendants that the violence they inflicted had been brutal. The judge commented on CCTV images which captured the two thugs, as they walked away from the house, having been there for more than an hour.

Judge Unsworth said: “Knowing what you had just done, in a quite breath-taking, chilling and sickening image, you can be seen hugging and congratulating each other, and in high spirits, your brutal work done.”

The court also heard poignant victim impact statements, including ones from the relatives of the man left in a persistent vegetative state. The man’s grandmother – to whom he was close – has been unable to come to terms with the reality that her grandson may never be coming home, the court heard.

Plans are now in place to move the man to a hospice.

Defence barristers for both defendants told the court that they had expressed remorse, but Judge Unsworth said this had been expressed “late in the day” and suggested that a cynical view may be that those expressions of remorse were “contrived.”

Elston entered his guilty pleas 13 days before the trial was due to get underway while Ratcliffe pleaded guilty on the day the trial was due to start. Neither defendant showed any emotion as they were sentenced.

Neither victim had done anything at all to deserve the violence they were subjected to, noted the judge. 

The two defendants must serve at least two thirds of their sentence before they can apply for parole; and both men will be at risk of recall to prison for five years after their specified jail terms - (21 years and 21 years 7 months) - have expired. 

After today's sentencing hearing, Detective Chief Inspector Hayley Wilkinson said: “This was a violent and sustained attack which has resulted in extremely serious, life-changing injuries to both victims. One with permanent vision loss to one of their eyes and the other remains in a rehabilitation centre for his injuries.

“The actions of Ratcliffe and Elston could easily have resulted in loss of life that evening. However, the consequences of the assault continue to be felt to this day.

“The sentence of the court reflects the seriousness of the attack carried out by both men.”