An innocent member of the public could be scarred for life after he suffered an horrific head injury for refusing to give a drunken addict a cigarette in a West Yorkshire street.

Angry Julian Dillon repeatedly pushed his victim in the chest after his request was rejected and as the man tried to walk away the 53-year-old heroin-user chased after him and pushed him again from behind.

Prosecutor Philip Adams told Bradford Crown Court yesterday that the man was pushed forcefully by Dillon and as he fell his head struck the tyre rim of a parked car in Lister Court, Halifax.

“He sustained an horrific triangular wound to his head,” said Mr Adams.

“He was bleeding heavily from that wound and blood was pouring out onto the pavement.”

The man was assisted by another member of the public who called an ambulance and at hospital he had to have 30 stitches put in the head wound.

He was discharged from hospital, but returned the next day complaining of increasing headaches and nausea.

The complainant had a CT scan, but no fractures were found.

Mr Adams said the injury was to a prominent area of the victim’s head and he had been told he may be scarred for the rest of his life.

Dillon, of Union Street South, Halifax, left the scene when the police arrive, but following his arrest an hour later he said he couldn’t remember anything about the tea-time assault in June last year because he was drunk.

The court heard that Dillon had 87 previous convictions for more than 150 offences, including nine previous offences of assault, and at a hearing in July he pleaded guilty to a charge of unlawful wounding.

Today he was jailed for 18 months after Judge Ahmed Nadim said the photograph of the victim’s injury made for “very disturbing viewing”.

“You chased him and forcefully pushed him in the back resulting in him falling against the wheel of a parked car striking his head on a metal part of that wheel resulting in a most unpleasant injury,” the judge told Dillon.

Barrister Jeremy Barton, for Dillon, said the case involved a “reckless, ridiculous act” by his client which had led to a terrible injury being caused.

He suggested that the complainant may have struck his head on a very sharp edge of the alloy wheel and said Dillon could never have imagined the terrible injury that would result.

Mr Barton said the men had previously shared tobacco and cigarettes and there had never been any issues between them.

“He’s sincerely remorseful for his actions and if he could he wishes to apologise to the complainant,” said Mr Barton.

Judge Nadim told Dillon:”The site of the injury is such that it is visible to anyone who looks at the victim and the victim is anxious about that scar and certainly it is a scar that will endure for some time if it is not lifelong.”