A MAN who attacked his next door neighbour with a spade, almost severing his finger, has been told to expect a “significant custodial sentence.”

David John Leavers, of Peniel Terrace, Llan Ffestiniog, was found guilty of wounding with intent and causing criminal damage at Caernarfon Crown Court on Thursday.

After four and a half hours of deliberations, a jury of seven women and five men delivered a 10-2 majority verdict in relation to the wounding charge and a majority verdict in relation to the criminal damage.

The 71-year-old attacked David Lloyd Hughes with an iron rod, a spade and a saw during a row on Friday 12 November last year.

Mr Hughes lost part of the little finger and broke another digit on his right hand.

Remanding Leavers in custody until a sentencing hearing in Mold on Thursday, 17 December, His Honour judge Rhys Rowlands told the pensioner an immediate prison sentence was “inevitable.”

He said: “You were asking for a confrontation and initially you were simply cantankerous and difficult.

“However, you ultimately attacked a younger man with a spade and inflicted a very serious injury indeed.

“Mr Hughes behaved with remarkable restraint”

Leavers clutched his chest and looked to be in considerable difficulty as he was taken down from the dock.

He had to be helped to his feet by two security officers.