The mother of a Falmouth window cleaner jailed for 20 months for assaulting a man in the town has said she will stand by her son.

Falmouth town councillor Diana Merrett, pictured, was speaking after her son David Merrett, of Trelawney Road, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing at Truro Crown Court, shortly before a three-day trial was due to take place.

The 45-year-old had admitted causing actual bodily harm (ABH) to Neil Drummond in June last year, in what has been described as an “unprovoked” attack in Waterloo Road.

He was handed his sentence at the crown court last Friday.

Merrett must serve half in prison before a decision is made over whether he can spend the remainder on licence. Yesterday his mother Diana Merrett, a Falmouth town councillor, told the Packet: “Although I am his mother, I do not hold with everything he does.

“I do not agree with what David did and I have always believed in the saying ‘if you do the crime, you should do the time’.

“I am standing by him because he has no-one else, but I in no way condone his actions. If anybody wants to say anything to me about this, I would rather they came and saw me rather than talking behind my back.”

She added that her son had “paranoia issues”.

DC Rick Milburn, who was in charge of the investigation, had told the court at the earlier hearing that Mr Drummond had been punched and kicked by Merrett, who also stood on his victim’s head.

Merrett had flared up, claiming Mr Drummond was losing him money on his window cleaning business.

Judge Christopher Harvey-Clarke, QC, had delayed giving sentence until after pre-sentence reports could be written.