AN OXFORD University student has been warned he could be jailed if he continues to miss his unpaid work sessions.

Oxford Crown Court heard Kurtis Chisholm failed to attend the sessions on January 19 and 20, and failed to provide evidence why he missed them.

The 21-year-old was handed a 16-month sentence, suspended for two years, with a curfew requirement and a 200-hour unpaid work requirement last year.

It came after scholarship student Chisholm, who will resit exams in June, admitted causing actual bodily harm to Samuel Steinert at the Anuba nightclub in Park End Street on March 9 last year.

At the hearing on Wednesday, Judge Peter Ross said jailing Chisholm could "destroy whatever glimmer remains" of his studies.

He said he would take an "unusual course" and adjourn the case until July 22, when Chisholm would know the results of his resits.

Judge Ross added: "You are a young man who, after an extremely difficult start in life, received extraordinary opportunities.

"Although I have major question marks over the way the order has been managed, it is clear to me that you have been playing fast and loose with this order.

"Quite what went wrong in terms of your studies is not clear. Some would say, having been given the opportunity by the court, you have thrown it back in the face of the court in not complying with the order.

"If you come back before me having passed your exams and having undertaken unpaid work as I have required you to do, I will allow the order to continue and mark it with some additional hours.

"But if you do not, your opportunity, a final opportunity, will have evaporated and you will go into custody."

Judge Ross added Chisholm must carry out at least one unpaid work session once a week, unless he can provide evidence it will clash with his exams.

Defence barrister Gareth James said Chisholm travels from his grandparent's home in Lydbrook, Gloucestershire, to Oxford for his studies as he does not have accommodation in the city.

Mr James said: "He managed to fail some of the modules he is required to pass to maintain his status. He accepts he made a mistake and let himself down."

He said Chisholm has completed "roughly a quarter" of the unpaid work he was ordered to carry out last year.

At the sentencing last April, prosecutor Alexandra Bull said biochemistry undergraduate Chisholm was with two female friends when one of them felt a stranger’s hand run from their thigh up her back.

She said Mr Steinert, who was very drunk, then grabbed out towards the defendant, who then headbutted him.

Ms Bull said the victim was left with a three-inch laceration that needed to be medically glued.