A 41-YEAR-OLD man has been spared jail for punching a man in the face and giving him a black eye over a debt of just “a few pounds”.

Andrew Tupper hit Andrew Brookes in the face after arguing over the money outside Tupper’s Cowley home in January.

Tupper, of Gaisford Road, was cleared of robbery after a trial, but admitted common assault and was sentenced at Oxford Crown Court on Friday.

Prosecutor Daniel Fugallo said Tupper had 15 convictions for crimes including assault on a police officer, harassment and making threats to kill.

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Anthony McGeorge, defending, said: “Mr Tupper got into an argument because he was owed some money.

“He had forgotten to take his tablets that day and thinks that is probably why he struck the blow he did.”

The court heard a pre-sentence report had not been prepared because Tupper had missed a meeting with the probation service.

Judge Gordon Risius, sentencing, decided not to send Tupper to prison and instead handed him a four-month curfew order.

Under the curfew Tupper has to stay at his Cowley home between 7pm and 7am every day.

The judge told him: “There was an argument between you about a couple of pounds alleged to have been owed when you punched him in the face and gave him a black eye.”

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