A notorious thug caught stoned at the wheel escaped from police after he was arrested.
Dean Joughin once gave another man permanent brain damage by kicking and stamping on his head.
He left defenceless Stuart Stevens with "boot marks all over his face" and fighting for his life in a coma.
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Joughin, then 25 and from Netherton, was jailed for six years over that vicious street attack in 2009.
The victim's family were outraged when just two and a half years later he was allowed back home at weekends.
Liverpool Crown Court today heard police spotted a Volkswagen Passat, on Queen's Drive in Bootle, at around 8.15pm on Friday, October 15 last year.
Nardeen Nemat, prosecuting, said the car turned right onto Southport Road, where officers pulled it over for a stop check and found three people inside.
Ms Nemat said: "The defendant was the driver of the vehicle. He appeared to officers to be nervous. His eyes were glazed and there was also a smell of cannabis coming from the car."
Joughin was asked to provide a sample of saliva for a drug test and was put in the front passenger seat of the police car, while officers searched the Passat.
An officer returned to the police car and told Joughin he had tested positive for cannabis, before arresting him and beginning to caution him.
Ms Nemat said: "The defendant leapt to his feet and ran away from the officers."
They chased after Joughin, 37, of Warbreck Avenue, Walton, but couldn't catch him.
However, four days later he handed himself in at Marsh Lane Police Station.
When interviewed, he explained he had "panicked" so ran off and claimed he tried to hand himself in earlier, but the station was closed.
Ms Nemat said: "He said he had Asperger's and didn't understand the severity of his arrest because he hadn't been handcuffed and his legs were outside of the car."
Joughin has 13 previous convictions for 21 offences, including vehicle taking and failing to stop after an accident in 2004 and obstructing a constable and driving while disqualified in 2005.
In September 2009, he was jailed for inflicting grievous bodily harm and assault causing actual bodily harm.
A court heard Joughin and a brother had argued with members of Stuart Stevens' family at the Liverpool Arms pub on March 16 that year.
Two days later, Joughin kicked open the door of a friend of the Stevens family, pulled him outside and started punching him, before the victim escaped.
Later that day, Mr Stevens was at an off licence in Randall Drive, Netherton, when Joughin pulled up outside in a red Vauxhall Astra.
Sickening CCTV footage showed Joughin chase Mr Stevens, push him to the ground, then repeatedly kick and stamp on him for nearly 30 seconds.
Witnesses described how Joughin walked away, before returning to the 37-year-old and continuing the attack.
Mr Stevens later told the ECHO how he suffered serious memory loss, had struggled to put his life back together and wished Joughin the same fate.
Joughin has since been convicted of harassment in 2016, drug driving in 2017, and drunk and disorderly behaviour last December.
Recorder Katherine Pierpoint noted he hadn't been prosecuted for drug driving over the events of last October because he ran away, so a further test couldn't take place at a police station.
Olivia Beesley, defending, urged the judge to spare Joughin prison.
She said her client had a "very difficult childhood" and was the victim of serious abuse up until the age of 10.
Ms Beesley said he moved away from the area at the age of 16, "got in with the wrong group", began to use cocaine and "found himself in a very dark place".
The lawyer said Joughin started to use other drugs to cope with his childhood and "still struggles with cannabis" but wanted to tackle his addiction.
Ms Beesley said Joughin, who had worked as a window cleaner, was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, ADHD, anxiety and depression.
She said Sean's Place, a men's mental health support organisation in Sefton, had offered him a six-week course if he was spared jail.
Passing sentence, Recorder Pierpoint said Joughin had breached previous court orders.
Joughin interrupted and said: "I've never breached no thing - I've been hooked on the pot to get rid of the thoughts that are in my head."
The judge said his record showed breaches of court orders and noted his past conviction for drug driving in 2017.
Recorder Pierpoint said: "It's right you have had a difficulty for a long period of time with your mental health. You had a traumatic upbringing and it may indeed be as a result of that you have the difficulties you have."
The judge said Joughin told the author of a pre-sentence report he had used cannabis since he was young to try and deal with his issues.
But she said: "The use of cannabis doesn't help your mental health - it makes it worse."
Recorder Pierpoint said Joughin had a "poor response in the past to previous supervision" and was considered by the Probation Service to be a "high risk of reoffending".
Jailing him for four months, the judge said she had to consider "deterrence" when sentencing offenders who had escaped from custody, whether it was from prison or a police car.
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