By Hugo Gye PUBLISHED: 07:58 EST, 31 October 2013 | UPDATED: 09:55 EST, 31 October 2013 Jailed: Jack Smith has been sentenced to 21 years in prison for attacking a stranger with a meat cleaver A violent thug who attacked a stranger with a meat cleaver in the street on New Year's Eve has been jailed for 21 years. Jack Smith managed to escape justice for more than five years after leaving Matthew Jeeves for dead following the unprovoked assault. But when DNA tests were carried out on a hat left at the scene of the attack in Cheam, Surrey, they proved that Smith was responsible.
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Jack Smith and Barry Hughes set upon Matthew Jeeves with meat cleaver
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They hacked into his face and left him with serious injuries after robbery
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Smith, 23, escaped justice for five years but was caught by DNA from hat
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He has now been sentenced to 21 years in prison at Croydon Crown Court
@placeholder is currently serving a 13-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to the attack last year.