A HOMELESS man has been jailed for attacking a driver with a bottle opener after he was found sleeping in the disabled toilets at a bus station.

Adam Berry was so angry about being evicted from the toilets at Newton Abbot bus station that he pursued the driver to his bus and used the opener to stab him in the arm.

He left the victim with a gash which needed hospital treatment and a smaller cut on his hand. The two injuries forced him to take a week off work and he spent months worrying about a possible infection.

Berry had bedded down in the toilets, which are also used as a staff facility, and was found when another driver tried to get in.

CCTV showed the two men forcing open the door and Berry coming out in a dishevelled state before pursuing one of the drivers across the concourse to his bus.

He lashed out twice with the Batman branded bottle opener in his hand as the brave driver tried to fend him off and prevent him getting on board.

Berry, aged 29, previously homeless but now of Longford Lane, Kingsteignton, admitted assault causing actual bodily harm and breaches of bail and a suspended sentence and was jailed for a total of 17 months by Judge Timothy Rose at Exeter Crown Court. 

He told him: ‘When you attack a public servant, in this case a bus driver in his bus, and use a weapon on him to inflict a nasty injury, it is impossible to suspend the sentence.’

Mr Charlie Barrass-Evans, prosecuting, said Berry was found asleep in the disabled toilet at 6.40pm on January 7 this year when a driver tried to use it.

He found the door jammed shut and get a colleague to help him force it open and order Berry to leave. One driver then returned to his bus but was confronted in the doorway by Berry.

Mr Barrass-Evans said: ‘The driver made it clear he was not welcome on board but Berry threw his arm out in a sweeping motion with a clenched fist. The driver blocked him with his forearm.

‘He noticed a sharp object in Berry’s hand which he thrust forward in a stabbing motion. The driver grabbed his wrist and restrained him against a railing until police arrived.

‘At that point he noticed his forearm was bleeding and he also had a cut at the base of his forefinger. A 6cm wound to his left forearm was glued in hospital. The weapon was a Batman shaped bottle opener.’

A victim impact statement said the driver had been worried about being infected or infecting his family because he knew the attacker was a homeless drug user. He had to wait six months before a final check-up gave him the all clear.

He said: ‘I considered changing my job. I used to enjoy chatting with all different types of people but now I feel I cannot trust anyone. It has changed my personality.’

Mr William Parkhill, defending, said the offence arose from Berry’s unstable life style of homelessness and drug taking. He has since sought help for both problems and is on a methadone script.