A TEENAGER has described how a single punch left him with permanent metal plates in his jaw and months of lost memory.

Jamie Busby was punched outside the USA Fried Chicken takeaway, in Corn Street, Witney, leaving him unconscious for days.

Now his attacker has been convicted of causing grievous bodily harm with intent after a trial at Oxford Crown Court.

The 19-year-old victim said in a statement read to the court: “I’m still trying to come to terms with the assault on me.

“This is proving quite hard, because there is so much I still can’t remember. There are two months before the assault that I can’t remember and I also can’t remember some things afterwards.

“And my jaw clicks and cracks when I eat, causing me pain.”

Sam Moscrop, of Swansfield, in Lechlade, Gloucestershire, punch-ed Mr Busby during a night out on August 18 last year.

The 25-year-old told the jury he had drunk about five pints of cider and two alco-pops during the night out with his wife and friends before the argument at about 1.30am.

He said he saw a group of men arguing around his wife and said: “I think I was just protecting my wife, but after seeing him on the floor I was distraught.

“I never meant for anybody to get hurt like that.”

He added: “I just don’t know how I could do that to someone.”

But Philip Farr, prosecuting, told Oxford Crown Court that the two groups of young people argued and became involved in a “melee” that resulted in Moscrop running up to Mr Busby and delivering a “haymaker” punch which knocked him unconscious.

The barrister told the jury the younger man fell to the ground and hit his head on the pavement, only waking up several days later in hospital.

Mr Busby received fractures to his jaw and face, cuts requiring stitches and heavy bruising, Mr Farr added.

He said: “Inside USA Fried Chicken it seems that some sort of argument has broken out.

“Jamie Busby, who is outside the shop, is approached by the defendant and is pushed and then punched with some significant force in the face.

“The result of the blow is that he went to the ground knocked out cold and smashed his head on the pavement.”

Mr Farr said the incident appeared to have escalated because the defendant thought his wife, Rebecca Moscrop, was in trouble.

He told the jury: “To put it simply, this was a case of tunnel vision – he saw the melee, saw Mr Busby, and went straight for him.”

After the attack, messages flooded in to wish Mr Busby, a former Henry Box School pupil who worked at Fat Lil’s bar in Corn Street and at GSM Industrial Graphics in Witney, a quick recovery.

Moscrop was released on bail until the sentencing on May 23 after the jury delivered its verdict on Thursday.

He must report to Witney police station every Saturday as a condition of bail. He had denied the charge as well as an alternative charge of causing grievous bodily harm.