A JUDGE has described an alcohol-fuelled assault in Oxford city centre as ‘wholly unacceptable’ before jailing two men.

Gurvinder Mann, 44, of Barton Village Road, Headington, and Ben Cheetham, 26, of Rose Hill, Oxford, were sentenced at Oxford Crown Court on Thursday (March 4) for one count each of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

The duo were caught on CCTV kicking Oliver Stokes several times in the head in the early hours of the morning on June 3 last year.

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Sentencing the pair to 10 months imprisonment, Judge Ian Pringle said: “You had both consumed vast amounts of alcohol.

"That’s not only not an excuse but an aggravating feature -it’s wholly unacceptable.”

Opening the case, prosecutor Kathy Oliver said that the pair were first told to leave the city centre after being caught trying to start a fight outside Hanks Bar in Queen Street.

Mann could be seen on the CCTV jumping around ‘like a boxer’, as described by Judge Pringle, before the duo were asked by door staff and officers to go home.

However, the pair were then seen in Cornmarket Street in the city involved in an altercation before assaulting Mr Stokes.

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Ms Oliver said that Mr Stokes had run over to help a friend and had claimed ‘he didn’t want to get involved in a fight but the men had punched him’.

In a statement, Mr Stokes said: “I covered my face with my arms but I felt like I had been kicked six to seven times when I was on the ground. I think I lost consciousness. I can’t remember.”

The court heard that a police officer had then driven his car through the middle of the assault, saying he was ‘seriously concerned’ about the incident and was ‘scared’ for the victim.

Mr Stokes was taken to hospital and has suffered from several facial injuries, including bleeding from the eye socket but he never attended his follow-up appointments.

Defending Mann, his barrister said the defendant is now a ‘very different man’ and had been at a recovery house seeking help for his alcohol addiction.

Similarly, the defence barrister for Cheetham said the defendant had been seeking help for substance abuse after addressing his mental health and PTSD issues.

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Judge Pringle praised the duo for their progress.

He said: “Both of you have made considerable efforts since then to turn your lives around.

“But I would be failing in my duty if I didn’t pass a sentence today that was of immediate custody.”

The pair will serve half their sentence in custody before being released on licence.