A “DRUNKEN thug” who punched a man to the floor in a public house and kicked him five times has been jailed for 18 months.

John Sutcliffe attacked his victim after words were exchanged in the Great Northern Inn on Halifax Road, Keighley, at 10pm on August 9 last year.

Sutcliffe, 32, of Beck Road, Micklethwaite, pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

It was an incident of “appalling, gratuitous violence,” Judge Andrew Hatton said when he sentenced him yesterday.

Bradford Crown Court heard that the victim had no recollection of the attack, which left him unconscious, but the incident had been captured on CCTV which was played in the courtroom.

The man sustained a fractured right eye socket and cuts to his face when Sutcliffe punched him to the floor and followed-up the assault with further punches and five kicks.

He said in his victim personal statement that he was unable to open his eyes for some time afterwards and he had suffered with headaches. He had to take three weeks off work and the incident had affected his self-confidence when going out.

The court heard that Sutcliffe knocked down another man when he tried to intervene.

He had served two previous jail sentences for offences of violence.

In June, 2013, he was locked-up for four months after a drunken incident in which a man’s arm was slashed with a kitchen knife.

The following year, he was imprisoned for 20 months for his part in a group attack outside a public house in Keighley in which a man suffered a broken jaw.

Judge Hatton said of the latest incident: “This was appalling, gratuitous violence in a public place.”

He continued: “It was a sustained attack with a number of blows with fists and feet.”

Judge Hatton told Sutcliffe: “You have previous convictions for violence of a remarkably similar nature.”

Although character references spoke highly of him, and of the hardship that would be caused if he was jailed, Judge Hatton said he was unable to suspend the sentence.

He added: “You are simply a thug in drink.”