THE thug who attacked a grandfather in front of his family on a train approaching Shenfield has been jailed for eight weeks.

Raymond West, 49, was sentenced at Basildon Magistrates’ Court after earlier pleading guilty to common assault by beating charge.

On August 23 last year, West who is a diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic, punched 70-year-old George Douglas onboard a London-bound Greater Anglia train.

Mr Douglas was on his way home from a day out in Southend with his wife and three grandchildren when the attack took place at about 7.20pm as the train approached Shenfield.

West of Chigwell Road, Woodford Green, had been swearing at Mr Douglas’s wife and one of his grandsons.

When asked by the victim to stop this, the defendant proceeded punched the granddad three times leaving him with bruising to his face and arm.

West, drunk at the time, stayed on the train until Stratford.

Following the incident, a large scale search was conducted by British Transport Police officers who described the attack as “brutal”.

The manhunt included the release of CCTV images from the train carriage of the defendant, wearing a West Ham United football shirt.