A MAN who floored a stranger with a single punch, causing him a near-fatal bleed to the brain, has been jailed.

Jimmy Johnson, of Hudson Road in Poole, struck Anthony John Hodge without warning in a row over the victim’s cat.

The 21-year-old had overhead an argument between Mr Hodge and neighbour Wendy Staddon, in which the father had asked that she stop feeding his cat George.

The defendant, who is in a relationship with Mrs Staddon’s granddaughter, then intervened himself, lashing out at the victim in an alleyway between Belben Road and Bremble Close.

The blow caused Mr Hodge to strike his head on the floor, and he was treated for a broken skull and bleeding on the brain at Southampton Hospital’s neuro-logical unit.

Prosecutor Charles Gabb recounted a statement given to police by Mr Hodge some weeks after the incident took place.

In it, the victim said he had previously been “fit as a fiddle” but was suffering following the attack, telling officers: “I want my life back”.

Mitigating, Natalie Wood said Johnson, who works for a landscaping business, could not have foreseen the consequences of the punch.

“He has demonstrated genuine remorse and acknowledges the impact on Mr Hodge and his family,” she said.

Johnson, whose partner gave birth to their son five weeks ago, had denied inflicting grievous bodily harm on August 26 2013 but was found guilty by a jury at Bournemouth Crown Court following a trial.

Judge Samuel Wiggs sentenced the defendant to serve 15 months in prison for the attack at the court yesterday.

“You cannot hit somebody and cause them a fractured skull and bleeding on the brain and long-term effects without expecting to go straight to prison, and that is where you are going,” he told Johnson.

The defendant will also pay a £100 victim surcharge.