Pensioner Alan Barnes’ attacker Richard Gatiss ‘was a playground bully’

Richard Gatiss knocked pensioner Alan Barnes to the ground, breaking his collar bone.

The thug who attacked disabled pensioner Alan Barnes was an attention-seeking school bully destined for jail, a schoolmate has revealed.

The former acquaintance said Richard Gatiss was a schoolyard yob who smoked cannabis and never had any luck with girls despite pestering them to go out with him.

He spoke out ahead of the 25-year-old being sentenced for his attack on frail 4ft 6in pensioner Alan Barnes as he took his bins out at his bungalow in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear.

Cops hunted Gatiss down by DNA left on Mr Barnes’ jacket after an incredible response to a £330,000 fundraising drive to buy Mr Barnes a new home.

Last night the former schoolmate who only wants to be known by his first name Richard, 27 revealed Gatiss finally got his comeuppance after “pushing him too far”.

“He used to give people random abuse all the time for no reason whatsoever,” said the self-employed mechanic.

“Every day, I was one of his targets and I just snapped one day and gave him a hiding. I was suspended for a fortnight.”

Richard first met troubled Gatiss at Talbot House special school, Newcastle, in 2001, when he was about 14.

As there were just over 40 pupils in the school for kids with behavioural difficulties, their paths often crossed.

By then, Gatiss was already “mischievous” and “generally in trouble” despite his stable upbringing, Richard said. “He was always in bother at school and didn’t really listen to anyone.”

Gatiss is in Durham Prison awaiting sentencing after admitting assault with attempt to rob at Newcastle Crown Court.

Partially-sighted Mr Barnes, 67, is a devout Christian whose disabilities have been put down to his mother contracting German measles while pregnant.

In the cruel attack in January, Gatiss knocked him to the ground, breaking his collar bone and leaving him too scared to stay at home.

Gatiss, who lived with parents Karl, 54 and Andrea, 51, in Gateshead, told police he would have targeted “anyone” to get money because of his addiction to legal highs.

But lawyers argued the coward’s attack was a hate crime, fuelled by his dislike of disabled people.