A 20-YEAR-OLD who threw a glass at a man’s face has escaped being sent to prison after a judge urged him, “for goodness’ sake, learn from your mistakes”.

Christopher Parsons attacked Joseph Dobson after a night out in Oxford, leaving the victim with cuts to his face and neck.

The self-employed carpenter, of Henor Mill Close, Abingdon, was convicted by a jury of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and sentenced at Oxford Crown Court today.

Parsons, who has two previous convictions for drunken assaults, had come back to an address in Abingdon on November 1, 2008, when he threw a glass at Mr Dobson.

He had told jurors the glass left his hand as he tripped, but Judge Christopher Compston called that “a daft excuse”.

Edward Boateng-Addo, defending, said Parsons had matured since the incident, adding: “He has abstained from the use of drugs and reduced his alcohol consumption as well. It seems it’s alcohol that aggravates his mood at times.”

Judge Compston gave him a 12-month jail term, suspended for two years, with a two-year supervision requirement. He was also given a three-month night-time curfew, told to do a “control of violence course for angry and impulsive drunks” and made to pay £500 compensation and £500 costs.

The judge said: “For goodness’ sake, Christopher Parsons, learn from your mistakes.

“It is not the first or the second mistake, it’s the third.

“Whatever the history between you and Mr Dobson, when you threw that glass at him you were drunk and if it had been two inches further up his face it could have caused him to lose the sight of an eye.”