A father-of-two who smashed his former flat mate in the chest with a claw hammer for swearing at one of his children was jailed for nearly five years yesterday.

Jamie Snooks, 34, sunk the pointed end of the tool into the left hand side of Desmond Martin’s body as he opened his front door.

Snaresbrook Crown Court heard Mr Martin required emergency treatment for two broken ribs and a collapsed lung, and needed several stitches to close a puncture wound below his left armpit following the attack on November 5 2010.

Snooks, of Clements Road, Dagenham, was jailed for four years and nine months and was warned that if he were to commit a violent offence in future he would most likely be locked-up indefinitely.