QPR FOOTBALLER Karl Ready was kicked and punched in a drunken street brawl.

Mr Ready, and a friend, Robert Thomas, were attacked in Bicester's Market Square in November last year.

Stuart Gardiner, 26, of Pearce Way, Thame, admitted two charges of assault and was jailed for a total of 28 days. But he claimed Ready swung the first punch.

Gardiner said in an interview read to Bicester Magistrates' Court that Ready 'took a swing' at him. He retaliated by punching Ready who was then pushed to the ground, punched and kicked by Gardiner and two companions.

The street brawl was captured on CCTV and played to the court. Roger Coventry, prosecuting, said the catalyst to the fight had been a disturbance in a taxi rank earlier that night. Mr Ready and his friend had taken a cab but returned to the Market Square where the fight broke out.

Gardiner's friends, Paul Graham and Peter Armitage, had earlier pleaded guilty and each received a conditional discharge.

Gardiner admitted drinking ten pints of lager before the incident.

He said his memory was unclear.

Ben Williams, defending, said: "This was a very ugly incident. There is no getting away from that. It is a video one winces to watch."

But he added there was a substantial element of provocation. He said Mr Ready and Mr Thomas returned to the square due to an earlier fight." He said: "It just happens they got the worst of it and if they had got the better of it, it would be them in the dock.

"Those two men were not acting in an orderly or sensible fashion. He said much could be inferred from the fact the victims had chosen not to co-operate with police.

In sentencing, chairman of the bench John Yeadon, said: "We take a serious view due to the fact that on both occasions Mr Gardiner rushed in to join the fray. The level of violence was disgraceful. Kicking could have caused permanent injury."

He said the sentence was designed to deter disgraceful drunken behaviour by Gardiner and others in Bicester town centre.

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