DISTRESSING CONTENT WARNING: Judge Paul Farrer described the attack "the most sustained I have ever encountered".

09:25, Tue, May 5, 2026 Updated: 09:27, Tue, May 5, 2026

Razvan Mut police mugshot

Razvan Mut battered Stephen Watts with a chair leg (Image: West Midlands Police)

A man had his chest cut open and his heart manually restarted after a horrific 13-minute street attack in which he was struck with a chair leg more than 60 times. Razvan Mut, 35, carried out what a judge described as the “most sustained attack” he had ever encountered on Stephen Watts, a man in his 60s, in Whitehall Road, Handsworth, following a chance meeting.

As reported by Birmingham Live, Mut repeatedly stabbed, punched, stamped and kicked Mr Watts during the prolonged assault, leaving him with catastrophic injuries. He suffered multiple fractures to his head, face and ribs, a broken Adam’s apple, punctured lungs and a damaged spleen. Mr Watts went into cardiac arrest at the scene and effectively died, forcing paramedics to perform emergency treatment. His chest was cut open and his heart massaged in a desperate bid to bring him back to life.

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Birmingham Crown Court

Birmingham Crown Court (Image: Wikicommons)

He was treated at the roadside for around 30 minutes before being rushed to hospital in a critical condition, where he later underwent five operations.

The court heard Mut expended so much energy during the 13-minute rampage that he paused for breath on four separate occasions before continuing the attack. He only stopped when an ambulance arrived.

The violence unfolded on April 11, 2024, after Mut—who had offered Mr Watts a place to stay for £20 at his HMO—had taken crack cocaine and alcohol. An argument later broke out, escalating into the sustained assault.

Mr Watts later said the attack left him with lasting problems breathing, speaking and walking, adding it had “truly messed up my life.”

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He died in June last year from causes unrelated to the attack.

Mut, of no fixed address, admitted wounding with intent and possession of an offensive weapon, but was cleared of attempted murder by a jury.

He was sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court to 12 years in prison with an extended four-year licence and faces the prospect of deportation after serving two-thirds of his sentence—around eight years.

Sentencing, Judge Paul Farrer said: “This is of its type the most sustained attack I have ever encountered.

“It really is a case where the extreme skill of those who attended at the scene saved his life and saved Mr Mut from a murder conviction.”