Yarmouth Man Jailed For Life For Vicious Attack

7 October 2014, 17:07 | Updated: 7 October 2014, 17:17

A 27 year-old Yarmouth man has been jailed for life after attacking a former acquaintance so viciously that he has been left severely brain damaged, paralysed and blind.

Clive Malone (pictured), from Paget Road in the town, had pleaded guilty to one count of grievous bodily harm, one count of attempted grievous bodily harm and aggravated burglary and was found guilty of one count of attempted murder in August following an incident at a property in Albion Road on Saturday 1 February this year. 
 
Malone was sentenced to life imprisonment to serve a minimum of 16 years.

The 27 year-old recieved an eight year sentence for attempted GBH and aggravated burglary to run concurrently.
 
He had visited his victims, Patrick (known as Tommy) Lambert, aged 62, and his brother Russell Lambert, aged 55, earlier that Saturday - to celebrate Tommy's birthday. 

Russell, who normally lives in London, had made a surprise visit to Tommy and the brothers had used it as an excuse to hold an impromptu party inviting other friends and acquaintances.      
 
A number of people had spent several hours with the brothers listening to music and drinking before Malone was seen getting into a minor argument with Russell about his laptop which they were using to play the music on.  This had not appeared to other party goers as an ongoing disagreement although Malone was later thought to have said he would be offering a laptop for sale the following day.  
 
However, at around 8:45pm that evening, Malone and another acquaintance were seen walking towards Albion Road with Malone wearing a hat and scarf across his face.  Malone entered the victim's address alone and attacked both the brothers, who were asleep on separate sofas in the living room, before stealing Russell's laptop and leaving.   
  
The brothers were found the next morning by a friend with injuries so severe that an ambulance was called. 

Tommy had a gash to the top of his head, heavy bruising and cuts to his hand.  Russell remains in a poor condition in hospital with significant brain damage, paralysis and loss of sight.  
 
During interview Malone claimed he didn't recall returning to Tommy's home and attacking them despite being positively identified wearing the scarf and hat by Tommy and blood from Russell being found on clothing Malone was known to be wearing at the time.  
 
At court Malone admitted taking an iron bar to the property in Albion Road which was used during the assault.  
 
Detective Chief Inspector Paul Durham, from the Norfolk and Suffolk's Major Investigation Team, who led the enquiry, welcomed the result saying:

"The sentence today accurately reflect the severity of the incident. This was an unprovoked and extremely violent attack on people Malone knew and had previously socialised with.  Considering that the day had started out as a celebration of Tommy's birthday, neither he nor Russell would have ever expected it to end so tragically. 

My thoughts are with Russell and his family who still have to deal with the consequences of this horrfic attack on a day-to-day basis."