CARPENTER Oliver Stringer says he has been left constantly looking over his shoulder after being glassed.

The 20-year-old was attacked with a Corona beer bottle at Thirst Bar in Park End Street, Oxford, last August.

His attacker, Patrick Meech, 21, from Tilehurst, Reading, was jailed for a year.

Mr Stringer decided to re-live his experience for the Oxford Mail as it emerged 93 people had been attacked with glasses or bottles in Oxfordshire in the last three years.

Police launched grievous bodily harm investigations in two serious cases, and another 91 peoplewere assaulted with bottles or glasses.

Mr Stringer, from Oakley, near Thame, said he was now wary about going into packed places full of drunk people.

He said: “I’d gone into Oxford with five friends.

“I was drinking in the bar and left my mates on the dancefloor and went to the toilet. A girl sort of danced into me and a group of lads thought I had pushed her and started a fight.

“Then one of them picked up a bottle and smashed it over my face.

“ I can’t really remember much about when it happened.

“It all went blank and then suddenly the paramedics were there.”

Mr Stringer spent six hours in the accident and emergency department at the John Radcliffe Hospital where he had 11 stitches in his face.

Doctors told him if the bottle had smashed half an inch lower, he could have been blinded or lost an eye.

Mr Stringer said: “I was attacked for absolutely no reason. It has left me permanently scarred.

“I didn’t go out for about four or five weeks after.

“I was off work for a week, which is a long time when you’re self employed. It has also left me with a scar across my face. It has definitely made me more wary generally.

“Not only do I have a permanent memory of the dangers of getting drunk, the guy who attacked me now has a criminal record and will be left to reflect on a single night of violence while sitting in a prison cell for the next year.

“Twelve months does seem a long time, but when you think I could have been blinded, a year is not that long.”

Police licensing co-ordinator Tony Cope said: “After the last GBH assault, the Thirst Bar licensee voluntarily introduced polycarbonate (plastic) cups.

“Polycarbonate doesn’t stop assaults, it just reduces the effects.”