A teenager obsessed with sado-masochism who broke into an elderly pensioner’s home at night and attacked her with an axe has been locked up for 12 years.

Bradley Webb inflicted appalling injuries on 79-year-old widow Valerie White as she lay helpless in her bed.

A judge praised her “stoicism” for the way she dealt with her ordeal despite the life-changing effect on her.

Judge Jeremy Carey said the extended sentence for public protection after Webb, 18, admitted attempted murder and robbery would not restore the victim to good health, “either in body or mind”.

And he admitted: “I have no doubt those who hear the sentence will understandably regard it as inadequate having regard to the gravity of the offending. Why should they not?

“But these matters have to be subject to careful and lawful application by reference to sentencing guidelines and the overall justice of the case.”

Webb, of Mayfair Avenue, Maidstone, will have to serve eight years of the sentence before the parole board will consider his release. He will be on licence for a further two years at the end of the full term.

Maidstone Crown Court heard Webb was 17 when he entered Mrs White’s house in Campbell Road in the town.

"Your principal interest was not to steal from Mrs White but to indulge a perverted interest in violence towards others, fuelled no doubt by your obsession with pornography and interest in sadistic violence, coupled with long-term use of cannabis..." - Judge Jeremy Carey

Prosecutor John O’Higgins said neighbours had been especially vigilant of Mrs White as there had been previous incidents of intruders at her home.

Brothers Mark and Christopher Brown heard noises coming from the house in the early hours of February 2 last year and went to investigate.

They had a key to her front door but could not open it because it was chain locked.

The brothers and another neighbour, Rita McCarthy, went to the rear and found Mrs White there covered in blood. She collapsed as she tried to open the gate.

Christopher Brown saw Webb walking off and followed and called out: “Look mate, you had better come with me. I think you have done something really bad.”

Webb pulled out his phone and asked: “Can I just call my mum?”

Mr Brown took the phone from him and asked what he had done. He replied: “My friends dared me to do it.”

He calmly agreed to return to the house where he sat on a wall. He handed over the axe he had taken from the shed at his home and the jewellery and credit card he stole.

He told police officers: “I hit her. It was really stupid what I did. Is she alright? Is she alive?”

Mr O’Higgins described Mrs White as “an elderly lady, tiny in stature, wearing a nightie, covered in blood, shaking terribly”.

She was taken to Pembury Hospital and treated for multiple head injuries and cuts. She had a wound to the top of her head from the axe and a fractured jaw either from a fist or feet.

Sandra Barnham described in a statement how her mother’s life had totally changed.

Kieran Galvin, defending, said Webb lived in a fantasy world involving “sado-masochistic activity”.

Mr O’Higgins said Webb had no previous convictions but there was an episode when he broke into a neighbour’s house while they were away.

He went through the mother and daughter’s underwear drawer and performed a sex act after accessing porn sites.

Judge Carey said: “I am satisfied your principal interest was not to steal from Mrs White but to indulge what by then had become a perverted interest in violence towards others, fuelled no doubt by your obsession with pornography and interest in sadistic violence, coupled with long-term use of cannabis.

“With your troubled start in life that was a mix of a highly toxic and dangerous kind.”