A gardener who buried an axe in a man's head after a pub row over laughter has been jailed for 24 years today.
The savage attack in a 16th century village pub left the victim suffering from permanent disability, slurred speech and unable to drive.
Ipswich Crown Court heard earlier how David Perry had picked an argument with a group of friends having a quiet drink in the Bell Hotel in Clare, Suffolk, last year.
He left the pub but ran back in minutes later brandishing an axe.
The jury that convicted him of attempted murder after a nine-trial heard that he swung the axe and buried it in the skull of Mark Cutts leaving him with life-changing injuries.
Passing sentence Judge Martyn Levett described it as a "savage crime" and said that builder Mr Cutts had suffered a "life-threatening" injury.
He added that Perry, 40, from Wickhambrook, Suffolk, had intended to kill Mr Cutts, who was just one centimetre from death or serious brain injury because the axe hit a thicker piece of the victim's skull.
At the trial, a barmaid told the court that after some banter in the pub Perry remonstrated with a group of relatives over what the jury as told was "just family banter".
But within minutes the row escalated and ended with gardener Mr Cutts being felled by single powerful swing of the sharpened axe by the angry fellow drinker.
