A DISTRAUGHT mother spoke of her “living hell” as her son’s killer was handed a seven-year jail term.

Sarah Alexander told how she became hysterical when she found her son Luke Woolf unrecognisable and fighting for his life in hospital.

The 18-year-old suffered “devastating head injuries” during an attack by Scott Townson at a Southampton hostel in October 2008. He died five months later from pneumonia having never regained consciousness.

Ms Alexander said: “It was a parent’s worst nightmare that had come true. I felt numb, I felt angry, to think that one human being could severely and deliberately hurt another human being is unbearable to think about.”

She spoke of how doctors then told her that if Mr Woolf did regain consciousness he would be physically and mentally disabled, a “vegetable”.

She added: “I just wanted to wake up from this living nightmare and be told it’s not real, it’s not happening; but it was real and it was happening.

“My life was destroyed when I was told that Luke was dying. I never left Luke’s bedside until the final moment and still could not leave him; I couldn’t even have Luke die in my arms because he was so fragile.

“I just watched him and talked to him, hoping he could hear me and when I saw my son take his last breath of life, my whole life and world died also.”

Townson – high on a cocktail of lager, cider, Ecstasy and cocaine – attacked Mr Woolf at the Rainbow Project hostel in Radcliffe Road, Northam, after finding him in his lounge. Mr Woolf, a previous resident, had been banned from the home but had never handed in his keys.

Townson then put his bleeding victim on his bike but watched as he got just a few yards before falling off. He dragged him across the pavement and left him in a children’s park.

It was Townson’s girlfriend who called the emergency services two hours later, by which time Mr Woolf was in a coma.

Judge Keith Cutler, sentencing Townson at Winchester Crown Court, said: “You showed him no pity, you had no remorse for what you had done.”

A jury cleared Townson, of Radcliffe Road, Northam, of murder, but found him guilty of manslaughter.

Townson could serve only half his seven-year sentence if he behaves well behind bars. The 526 days he has already served on remand will also be deducted meaning he could be released in barely two years.

Ms Alexander added: “Scott Townson has still got his life and his mum and dad can still see their son – but I’m never going to see Luke again.

“I don’t think justice can ever be done for anybody who has lost a child in circumstances like this.”