A man has been jailed for a year at Oxford Crown court for hitting a man so hard that he suffered fractures to his face.

Gareth Curtis, of Wates Place, Longcot, near Faringdon, inflicted grievous bodily harm on Stuart Aitken on October 7 last year.

During an altercation over a request for a cigarette in Shrivenham, Curtis punched Mr Aitken twice in the face. Mr Aitken suffered fractures to his eye socket and cheek bone. He required facial surgery.

Just days later, Curtis, 19, had another violent dispute with two men in Faringdon after visiting a kebab shop.

One man suffered a cut to his head and a broken bone in his hand, and the other suffered bruising. Didcot magistrates transferred Curtis's resulting convictions for grievous bodily harm and two common assaults to the crown court for sentence.

Alex Stein, defending, told the crown court: "Mr Curtis has a drink problem. When he drinks he gets violent."

He urged the judge not to pass a custodial sentence so Curtis, who had a total of seven previous convictions for violence since 1998, could seek help to tackle his drinking.

But Judge Nicholas Loraine-Smith said only custody was appropriate. He told Curtis: "You attacked Mr Aitken. You punched him twice times in the face. His appearance has changed. The good news I suppose is that you didn't use a weapon. It was only a few days later that you were out again. You were looking for trouble, looking for a fight."

He sentenced Curtis to nine months in a young offenders' institution for grievous bodily harm and three months, to run consecutively, for the assaults.