A MAN who glassed his neighbour in the face during a drunken row has been given six months to stay sober or face jail.

Neil Harse, of Alvescot Road, Carterton, had already admitted one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Oxford Crown Court heard at his sentencing on Friday how the 46-year old had been drinking with his neighbour Dale Curtis across the hall at his block of flats at the time of the incident on November 7.

Prosecutors said that both had downed ‘a large quantity’ of Vodka and that neither could recall exactly what sparked the fight.

Mr Curtis’ partner was able to tell police, however, that at about 11.30pm Harse became aggressive and started to threaten his victim.

Harse told the man that he was from Blackbird Leys, the court heard, and that he could ‘get people on you’ and added: “I am going to stab you in the heart with a knife.”

When Mr Curtis tried to calm him down Harse then grabbed a Coca Cola bottle before striking his victim with it, hitting him squarely in his left eye.

Police were called and Mr Curtis was treated at the John Radcliffe Hospital for lacerations while Harse was arrested.

A victim personal statement read to the court revealed that the victim had been left feeling ‘paranoid’ and fearful of reprisals as a result of the attack.

In mitigation, Graham Bennett blamed the whole incident on Harse’s alcoholism.

He said: “They are well known to each other as neighbours for many years, living together without a problem in peaceful harmony, and then they both got drunk. They had been drinking most of the day.

“The complainant has no idea how it happened and the defendant has no idea how it happened.”

Judge Nigel Daly deferred sentence for six months while Harse undergoes alcohol treatment.