A jealous boyfriend who pushed a ‘free jumper’ from a balcony as he prepared to leap to escape him was jailed for 22 years.

Dwaine Dyer, 30, caught William Asante half-naked with the mother of his three children.

Mr Asante was about to perform one of his trademark stunts when he was confronted by Dyer.

Two witnesses saw Dyer push the athlete, who plummeted 21ft to the ground from the second floor balcony.

Mr Asante smashed his head on the concrete below, fracturing his skull and only narrowly survived.

Previously fit and agile, the victim has been left with wheelchair-bound with permanent brain damage and now needs round the clock care, Inner London Crown Court heard.

Dyer claimed Mr Asante jumped before he reached him, but a jury convicted him of attempted murder following a retrial.

Judge Lyndsey Burn described Dyer’s attack as “an act of stark brutality” in which he showed “utter contempt” for the victim’s life.

Dyer had been in a tumultuous relationship with Ternika Blanchard, 25, with whom he had three children.

Ms Blanchard told the court that she began seeing Mr Asante and they stayed together at his home in Upper Road, Plaistow.

She said 15 months earlier he was babysitting her children and decided to jump from the window.

He was unable to get back into the property and the youngsters were taken into care after police were forced to break down the door.

Dyer was in prison in Kent at the time but when he learned what happened, he threatened to kill Mr Asante.

Ms Blanchard was due to attend a family court hearing about the children on October 27 last year, the day of the attack.

Dyer had been allowed out on day release and was also due to attend, the court heard.

In the flat his rage “boiled over” and he pushed Mr Asante before he could jump.

Mr Asante has acute amnesia and a “complete loss of memory” of the attack.

Dyer, was of no fixed address.

He has a string of previous convictions, including wounding linked to a gang feud, for which he was jailed for 10 years.

Nigel Lambert QC, defending, told the court “Whatever history there may have been between the two parties, Mr Dyer didn’t go the premises armed. It was a spontaneous act, a single push.”

Judge Burn dismissed his arguments.