A 20-YEAR-OLD plumber who punched a young man in the face outside a Stourbridge nightspot fracturing his jaw and eye socket has avoided jail.

John Evans from Rowley Regis lashed out with a single blow after being involved in a dispute with Martin Roberts and his brother Anthony in Lloyds Bar - Paul Spratt, prosecuting, told Wolverhampton Crown Court.

He said the men who had all been drinking were ejected from the bar and it was while they were outside the premises that Evans threw the punch which Mr Spratt described as a "significant blow to the face".

However the court heard Mr Roberts did not require surgery to deal with the two fractures.

Mr Spratt said Evans also struck Anthony Roberts just once but he suffered no damage and did not need any treatment.

Recorder Derek Chinnery told Evans it was a serious offence because he had caused a serious injury to Martin Roberts who had been in a "lot of pain".

He said Evans had lost his good name as a result of the incident, adding: "I would like to think this is something that was very much out of character."

Evans, of Brickhouse Road, admitted wounding and common assault and was given 20 weeks in a Young Offenders Institution, suspended for a year.

He was further ordered to carry out 150 hours unpaid work in the community, placed on Supervision for a year and and told to pay Martin Roberts £700 compensation for his injuries.

Mukhtar Ubhi, defending, said Mr Roberts had little recollection of what happened because of the alcohol he had downed and maintained he had played a part in the start of the incident.

There was some gesticulating and Evans felt wound up, said Mr Ubhi. "He has now stopped going out and binge drinking., He knows this would not have happened but for the amount of drink he consumed."