News, views and top stories in your inbox. Don't miss our must-read newsletter Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will start in 8 Cancel Play now

This horrific video shows the moment a thug stamps on a man's head three times while he lay unconscious in the street.

Lee Harvey, 26, punched, kneed and kicked his defenceless victim during a vicious attack in broad daylight.

In this CCTV footage, the victim can be seen knocking on a house door in Gresham, Middlesbrough.

He argued with a woman at the house before Harvey emerged and pushed him into the road.

The two men square up to each other before Harvey launches a powerful punch at the victim's face.

He then pushed the man to the ground before he starts kneeing and kicking. One witness said the victim was kicked "like a football".

The man was left unconscious but despite this Harvey continued to kick him.

Eventually, another man drags the victim to the side of the road before the police show up.

He suffered a punctured lung and bruises to the eye and jaw. He had fractured ribs but it could not be proved that Harvey was responsible as he'd also been assaulted two days earlier.

At Teesside Crown Court heard, Harvey admitted stamping on him and wanting to knock him out, to "neutralise" him and "take him down".

He'd told a jury he thought he was doing the right thing on August 30 last year.

Harvey, of Grove Hill, Middlesbrough, admitted affray but denied attempting to inflict grievous bodily harm with intent.

He was convicted of that charge by a jury after a short trial earlier this month. Sentencing him to five years in prison today, Judge Peter Bowers said: "You did stamp on his head while he was unconscious, and left him there lying in the road."

Harvey told jurors the victim tried to grab him and threatened to stab the woman.

He said: "I thought he was going to stab me as well. I thought I'll just take him down."

He claimed he was in fear of his life when he had the man on the ground. He said he acted to prevent an assault, stop the man reaching into his pockets and keep him on the ground.

He added: "I didn't put full force but I did stamp on his head. I didn't intend to cause any injury to him. I just tried to shock him, to give him a warning, to say leave her alone.

"I thought I was doing right at the time but obviously I wasn't." He was previously jailed for three years for grievous bodily harm in 2006 and received an extended sentence for assault and affray in 2009. At the time of the attack he'd been out of prison for three years and just finished his licence period.

Brian Russell, defending, said yesterday: "Trouble came to his door rather than him seeking it out. "It doesn't excuse what happened thereafter. "He felt at the time he was doing the right thing.

" He realises he lost control. He's now demonstrating a degree of maturity and realises that he can't behave in this way."