A PARANOID schizophrenic battered a stranger with a car tyre lever because he thought he was a friend who had turned his back on him.

James Baxter launched the sustained attack on the 62-year-old after assaulting another man in the Middlesbrough street.

Earlier that day, 24-year-old Baxter had been sent home from work at a furniture store because his bosses thought he was unwell.

He went to see a friend who wanted nothing to do with him because he was acting so strangely - then went on the rampage.

Baxter - a heavy cannabis user - assaulted another man thinking he was his pal before he was pulled off by two passers-by.

He then assaulted the 62-year-old in Weastell Street, Linthorpe, before his victim broke free and ran into his home and locked the door.

Baxter smashed his way through the door, and found him in the kitchen rinsing his mouth of blood after suffering a broken jaw.

He picked up the tyre lever and repeatedly smashed it into his terrified victim's head and body, court papers reveal.

The victim was taken to the town's James Cook University Hospital where he had 14 staples put in wounds to his head and neck.

Baxter yesterday (Tuesday, November 18) admitted attempted murder and assault occasioning actual bodily harm when he appeared at Teesside Crown Court.

He will be sentenced on Friday when a judge has heard reports from psychiatrists, and is expected to be given a hospital order.

The sentence will mean he will be detained in a secure unit and held there until experts agree that he is safe to be released.

The bloodbath happened on May 16, and only ended when the same two men who rescued the first man ran to pull Baxter off his second.

The 62-year-old's partner told afterwards how she found him on the kitchen floor "covered in blood".

“Blood was gushing from his head and face, I felt totally helpless," said the mother-of-three.

"His face is unrecognisable. He is such a cheerful, loving person, I can’t believe someone would do this to him. It’s petrifying to think this has happened in our own home."

Baxter, of Crescent Road, Middlesbrough, was taken back to Roseberry Park Hospital in the town after the hearing.