A 24-year-old man has been jailed for four years for a drunken hammer attack on a family friend.

Danny Gower needed surgery for a depressed fracture of the skull after Wayne Dickson struck him on the head with the weapon.

Both men had drunk excessive amounts of alcohol when Dickson attacked Mr Gower, Bradford Crown Court heard today.

Neither man could clearly recall what had happened and there were no witnesses.

The judge, Recorder Paul Kirtley, said it was “a very odd set of circumstances”.

Dickson, of Hays Crescent, Thornton, Bradford, pleaded guilty to wounding Mr Gower with intent to cause him grievous bodily harm on May 12 this year.

Prosecutor Stephen Uttley told the court Dickson had been recalled to prison to serve the balance of a sentence imposed at the Crown Court in February.

Dickson was jailed for 12 months for his part in a drunken, racist attack on a newspaper delivery driver in Thornton Road, Bradford, in June, 2008.

He was convicted by a jury of affray and racially-aggravated criminal damage.

Mr Uttley said the hammer attack took place in Mr Gower’s flat after he and Dickson had been out drinking together.

Dickson immediately owned up to his family what he had done and his relatives went round to help Mr Gower.

Mr Gower was in hospital for five days. He was making a good recovery but had problems with concentration and memory loss.

Dickson’s barrister, David McGonigal, said the two men and their families had been friends for years.

Dickson did not take the hammer to the flat or cause a life-threatening injury.

Recorder Kirtley told Dickson that attacking someone with a hammer could cause really serious long term injury, or even death.

The judge said the new jail sentence would run concurrently with the prison term Dickson was serving after he was recalled on licence.