Plucky pensioner Arthur Chew says the thug who beat him up in his own home should serve the full jail term.

Andrew McNair was sent to prison for five years and four months after being part of a gang which broke into Mr Chew's house in Minster, Sheppey.

They continued to beat him, even after he told them where his £600 savings were.

Mr Chew, 76, said this week: "I don't suppose he will have to do all that time but I think he should. It was a brutal attack.

"He punched me in the face while I slept in my chair and then when I was on the ground another one kept kneeling on me.

"McNair kept coming back and smacking me in the face. There was nothing I could do. I couldn't move. It lasted 15 minutes but it seemed like three hours. He ransacked the place looking for money.

"He turned my bed upside down, emptied drawers and tipped everything out in the kitchen including a tin of sugar which went all over the floor. He even went into the loft and started throwing things down.

"Even after I told him where the £600 was, he kept hitting me. He should never have done that.

"I hope he doesn't have too good a time in prison. I'm told the other prisoners don't like people who beat up old people."

While 28-year-old McNair, of Warden Bay Road, Leysdown, was under interrogation he refused to reveal who else was with him in the house.

Mr Chew said: "I just hope they catch the other *****r."

He revealed that since the attack on October 10 last year he now needs his own oxygen supply 24 hours a day.

He said: "I was never like that before. I used to get a taxi and go to Minster Working Men's Club or the golf club for a pint. Now I get breathless at my front door. I can't go out any more. I am stuck indoors. I am *******d."

Mr Chew, the only survivor of six children, was born in Russell Street, Sheerness, and went on to manage the former glue works in Queenborough for 17 years before switching careers to become a professional fisherman. He also had stints as a milkman.

He also worked on building sites and was site foreman on the Swale Foyer hostel accommodation in Bridge Road, Sheerness. He recalled: "I couldn't believe it when I went back a couple of months later and found they had broken all the windows and doors and sold the TV sets and microwaves.

"A lot of money was spent on that place trying to help people in need and they did that. They were scumbags."

Mr Chew said he had been overcome by the support he had received from the community since his attack.

He said: "Many have come to help. It proves there are still some good people out there. It has helped restore a little bit of my faith again."

To get the latest updates in ongoing cases, police appeals and criminals put behind bars, click here.

Read more: All the latest news from Sheppey