A REFORMED criminal ruined his life and that of his victim during a mindless assault.

Keith Rojas prepared a victim personal statement for the court about his life following the attack.

He wrote: “The injuries I have been left with are considerable and life changing.”

Mr Rojas revealed he now has a metal plate in his skull.

He requires more operations of a fractured eye socket which has left his eyes different shapes.

He has suffered permanent, but not complete, hearing loss.

The court heard he regularly suffers from double vision and needs painkillers every day and morphine at night to cope with the agony he has been left in.

He also requires a walking stick and physiotherapy.

He wrote: “I was part of a running club and did Colchester half marathons.”

This is now beyond him.

His speech is also slurred.

He wrote: “I cannot remember anything about being assaulted but I keep reflecting on how close I came to death.”

Mr Rojas has not been back to work since the incident and fears he could lose his home if he cannot keep working and pay rent.

He has stopped socialising with friends and said he cannot hold a normal conversation anymore.

He is also too scared to go out in Colchester for fear of something else happening and can no longer enjoy his favourite things in life.

Williams already had 31 convictions for 71 offences.

Scott Williams was a career criminal for many years until he managed to get himself off heroin in 2012.

Since then he had avoided trouble until this attack.

Williams began offending in 1996. with dishonesty offences dominating his record.

He also has convictions for ten breaches of court and community orders.

But it was his record of violence which was most relevant.

He was convicted of assaulting a man and a police officer in June 2005.

In 2007 he headbutted a man in Head Street, Colchester.

His longest sentence previously was 18 months for robbery.

He also has a domestic assault on his record, his last offence in 2012.

The court heard he has spent several periods in jail previously.