A thug who left an innocent partygoer 10 minutes from death in a brutal cleaver attack was caught by police because he was wearing his mum's shoes.

Barry Hughes was sentenced to 13 years in prison on Monday for the attack in Cheam in 2008 which caused horrific injuries recreated here in computer modelled pictures.

Following his sentence at Croydon Crown Court, it emerged that Hughes, from Morden, was a prime suspect in the case four years ago but police did not have enough evidence to charge him with the attack.

A pair of woman's shoes found in the back of his car were originally tested but not thought to be part of the investigation as they belonged to Hughes's mum.

It was only when Hughes's mother lodged a formal complaint against the police for not returning the shoes four years on that police decided to run more rigorous tests, using a specialist sniffer dog on the size five Kicker boots, which secured the crucial DNA evidence to convict her son.

Upon hearing his sentence Hughes screamed obscenities at Judge Warwick McKinnon from the dock before being wrestled down to cells by security staff.

The court had heard how Hughes and his friend, who is still at large, punched Mr Jeeves to the floor in the early hours of New Year's Day 2008, between Love Lane and Tabor Gardens, before hitting him six times with a sharpened meat cleaver while he lay on the ground.

All Mr Jeeves had done was refuse to hand over his mobile phone and wallet.

A knife sharpener was found in Hughes' Red Vauxhall Corsa when it was searched by police, along with his mother's shoes which were later found to have Mr Jeeves blood on them.

Hughes "showed no remorse" or victim empathy according to Judge McKinnon, even telling his girlfriend in a phone call from prison how he doubted Mr Jeeves "remembers anything about that night."

In transcripts of telephone conversations read out in court, Hughes discussed with his girlfriend about organising another attack from within the prison.

The court heard how Hughes, while still at large for the cleaver attack, was sentenced to 58 weeks in prison for biting off another man's lip during a fight in 2009.

Judge McKinnon said the victim, who was sat in court to see his assailant sentenced, was "lucky to be alive" after needing 250 stitches to his head wounds.

Recorder of Croydon McKinnon said the case was "attempted murder" in his judgement.

Hughes pleaded guilty to grievous bodily harm with intent and robbery on December 19 and will serve at least six and a half years before he can apply for parole after being handed an indeterminate public protection order.