A teenager has been found not guilty of intending to cause serious harm to an epileptic man he confronted on a Rhyl street.

While he was cleared of inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent, Shaun Pritchard admitted causing GBH on Richard Hartley on May 1, 2017 and Judge Rhys Rowlands told him he was concerned about his level of offending last year.

Mold Crown Court heard Pritchard had been sentenced to 18 months youth custody last December for a wounding offence committed in March last year. The 18-year-old was also convicted of three other assault offences last year.

The judge said: “You just seemed to carry on offending last year and the courts when they passed your current custodial sentence didn’t seem to know about this matter.

“I have got to decide how much longer a sentence it would have been. But let me make it plain to you this offence is a particularly unpleasant one.”

The court heard how Pritchard threw a headbutt at Mr Hartley after a confrontation on Trellewelyn Road in Rhyl.

He then threw a brick at him and after his victim fell to the ground it was claimed he carried on the attack by stamping on the man’s arm and breaking his wrist.

Mr Hartley suffered an epileptic fit when he got back to his home and his nose was also broken by the headbutt.

Prosecutor Sion Ap Mihangel said the teenager had intended to cause really serious injuries to his victim, but a jury took more than three hours of deliberation to find him not guilty of the more serious charge.

Pritchard claimed it was Mr Hartley who had been aggressive to him and had chased him carrying two sticks.

Judge Rowlands adjourned the case until August 22 for a pre-sentence report to be prepared.