By Paul Behan

A THUG has been jailed for a “savage” attack which left his victim with a broken jaw, nose and cheekbone – all in front of his shocked family.

Shaun Thorpe, 21, dragged his victim from a house in Clydebank’s Crown Avenue, hit him on the head with his knee, jumped on his head and body, and kicked him on the head to the danger of his life.

During a trial at Dumbarton Sheriff Court, the jury heard the victim recall his terror as the 21-year-old appeared at his mother’s front door and launched into the horrifying attack – just hours after Thorpe appeared to randomly yell homophobic abuse from a flat window as his victim went to a shop.

The 28-year-old victim told the court he and his family had been watching the first Old Firm match since Rangers returned to the league on September 10, 2016. Hours after the full-time whistle, he noticed a man knocking at the door.

He said: “I remember getting kneed in the face and I remember my mum was trying to pull him off me.

“I fell to the ground, I was flat on my back. I was stamped on and kicked on my face.”

The victim’s injuries included facial fractures, a broken jaw, left cheekbone, left eye socket and a nasal fracture.

Fighting back tears, the victim’s mother said: “He was jumping all over my son – a lot. He kept running away and going back and jumping on him.”

Thorpe, though, maintained his not guilty plea but a jury found him guilty by majority.

Sentence was deferred yesterday for background reports.

Thorpe’s defence solicitor said his client had a “very troubling upbringing” culminating in a “fraught” relationship with his father, along with “issues” with drugs and alcohol.

The court was also told how Thorpe has been diagnosed with depression and was already struggling with life on remand at HMP Gateside.

His defence agent said: “He’s a young man who has never before served a period of detention.

“He’s a small fish in a very big pond. It’s given rise to quite a lot of difficulties.”

He added: “He’s a very young man who is terrified of the prospect of custody.”

But Sheriff William Gallacher told Thorpe: “I have a responsibility to protect the community so that those who think they can behave in this way will stop and think and see there’s consequences, not only for their victims, but for them.

“In my view I cannot mark an offence of such gravity and savage viciousness without a significant custodial sentence.”

Thorpe, of Smyllun Road in Lanark, was jailed for two years, backdated to August 28.