A FATHER who punched his teenage son unconscious and called him a ‘f****t’ has been jailed.

Martin Smith appeared before Oxford Crown Court on Friday after pleading guilty to one count of causing actual bodily harm as well as two common assaults, also against his son.

Prosecutor Cathy Oliver told the court the 39-year-old, of Bretch Hill, Banbury, attacked his son on August 23 after getting into an argument with him over whether he had failed his university exams.

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Ms Oliver said the 18-year-old described his father as 'agitated' and that he then punched him in the side of the face which caused him to 'blank out', not regaining conciousness until he had been moved to a neighbour's house.

She added there had been two earlier incidents in the weeks leading up to this and on one of the occasions the teenager had been pinned to a wardrobe by his neck.

Ms Oliver told the court his step-mother said there had also been 'regular homophobic insults' directed at the boy, with the word 'f****t' used following the August attack.

In mitigation, defence barrister James Riley said Smith was 'ashamed' of his actions but denied he was homophobic, adding: "It is clearly just a very fractious relationship."

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Judge Maria Lamb, sentencing Smith, said the relationship between father and son had been described as ‘toxic’ but that she saw it as a 'toxic attitude' from Smith, citing his homophobic language.

She added: "What happened on August 23 was not an isolated occasion but the culmination of a course of conduct towards [your son]."

Smith was jailed for nine months and a restraining order imposed banning him from contacting his son for five years.