A world champion cage fighter dodged jail yesterday for a horror hammer attack on a thief who tried to break into his home.
IMF Muay Thai world champ Chris Shaw was told that his previous good character played a large part in avoiding being locked up.
Shaw, 31, had left George Halliday, 44, covered in blood, with a broken nose, and unable to see properly.
Kickboxer Shaw, who has also fought numerous MMA bouts, was sleeping in bed when Halliday tried to break into his home.
Shaw was dressed in just his boxer shorts and a pair of flip-flops when he chased Halliday, who was armed with a chisel and saw, down the street and launched his attack.
Shaw, of Johnstone, Renfrewshire, admitted his guilt over the August 2020 attack last month and returned to the dock at Paisley Sheriff Court yesterday to be sentenced.
Defence lawyer Tom Watters told the court he was a Mixed Martial Artist who also ran his own business.
He explained: "He is self-employed, works seven days a week, and is the first to get his hands on the tools."
He said he would be willing to pay a fine as punishment but would comply with any sentence which kept him out of prison.
Sheriff Tom McCartney said: "If you were a person with previous convictions there's no doubt a prison sentence would be the most likely sentence in respect of an assault of this nature.
"In the absence of any previous convictions I am just persuaded that I can deal with this matter by way of an alternative to prison."
He placed Shaw on a Community Payback Order, telling him to carry out 200 hours' unpaid work in the next 12 months, reduced from 250 hours' as he admitted his guilt.
And he warned Shaw that he could still be jailed over the offence, if he fails to comply properly with the punishment.
The court heard previously that Shaw chased Halliday who had broken into this tool van and was trying to gain access to his home.
He struck Halliday, causing him to fall to the ground, then hit him with the hammer, with the blow landing on Halliday's arm.
He then rained kicks and punches on his head and body for around two minutes, leaving Halliday covered in blood and with an eye so swollen he couldn't open it.
The police were contacted and officers found Shaw with dried blood on both sets of knuckles.
Whilst being treated at hospital, Halliday said: "I thought I was breaking into a garage but it turns out it was a house and the guy battered me".
Halliday appeared in court the day after the attack and admitted breaking into Shaw's van and stealing items, and trying to break into his home.
Halliday was stabbed more than 20 times in 2010, later becoming a heroin addict, and was diagnosed as suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in 2017.
In 2011 he stole a Subaru Forester 4x4, used to ferry ill children to Glasgow’s Yorkhill Hospital, after breaking into a specialist paediatric nurse's home.
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