A drunken man who almost blinded a supermarket security guard in a booze-fuelled attack has been jailed for four and a half years.

Lee Holmes, 23, was led sobbing from the dock at Bradford Crown Court yesterday.

Holmes, of Reevy Crescent, Buttershaw, Bradford, fractured a man’s ankle, butted another in the face and violently poked Tesco security guard Norman Stoker in the eye.

Judge John Potter told him: “This was an alcohol-fuelled mindless piece of violence.”

Holmes and another man were drinking overnight outside Tesco in Halifax Road, Buttershaw, Bradford, on October 31 last year.

Holmes attacked Adrian Sunderland, 46, and Brian Stead, 47, at 6.30am when they arrived to collect their wives from the night shift at the supermarket.

Prosecutor Jonathan Devlin said Holmes punched and kicked Mr Sunderland’s vehicle when he told him he did not have a light for a cigarette.

When Mr Sunderland got out to inspect the damage, Holmes punched him in the face.

He fell, fracturing his ankle and his tooth was loosened in the attack.

Holmes butted Mr Stead when he tried to calm him down, causing significant facial bruising.

After Mr Stoker responded to the store’s panic alarm, Holmes deliberately thrust at least one finger into his right eye.

Mr Stoker suffered permanent damage, losing 75 per cent of vision in the eye and spending three weeks in hospital.

Holmes was on prison licence at the time after serving a two-year sentence for robbery.

He pleaded guilty to wounding Mr Stoker with intent to cause him grievous bodily harm, unlawfully wounding Mr Sunderland and causing Mr Stead actual bodily harm.

Holmes broke down and wept as his solicitor advocate, Anne-Marie Hutton, told the court of his genuine remorse.

She said: “He comes from a decent, law-abiding, family and has felt the full force of his mother’s disapproval.”

Holmes had attacked three men significantly older than him, almost blinding Mr Stoker.

After the case, Mr Stoker, who still works at Tesco as a night security guard, said his life would never be the same.

“I thought it would make me feel better to see him in court but it didn’t.

“He has got his sentence but I’ve got mine too. His sentence will end and he’ll get back to normal but I never will.

“I’ll never see out of my eye again,” he said.