A TETBURY teenager who broke another man's jaw in two places in a display of 'gratuitous unnecessary violence' in a Cheltenham fast food takeaway was jailed for 18 months today.

Liam Murray, 19, punched Simon Molyneux repeatedly in the face in a totally unprovoked attack, said prosecutor Julian Kesner at Gloucester crown court.

Mr Molyneux suffered fractures on both sides of the jaw which needed surgery and a tooth was also broken, Mr Kesner said.

Murray, of Grove Gardens, Tetbury, admitted unlawfully wounding Mr Molyneux on 28th April last year at Roosters chicken bar in Cheltenham.

He was sentenced to 18 months in a young offenders institution.

Mr Kesner said it happened at 1.30am when a woman companion of Murray's got into an argument with him but then 'transferred her anger' to Mr Molyneux. She started to kick him - whereupon Murray joined in and asked 'Are you laughing at me?'

The prosecutor told the court "For no apparent reason the defendant then hit Mr Molyneux really hard. A witness said there were 4-5 hard continuous fists. They were hard, with maximum force, using both fists.''

He said Mr Molyneux had to have two plates inserted with screws into the right side of his jaw and his tooth had to be removed."

Murray had a previous convction for battery at Tesco's in tetbury when he punched someone twice causing a black eye, said Mr Kesner.

He pointed out that Murray is was currently nearing the end of a prison term imposed for attempted robbery.

Steve Young, defending, said Murray had been drinking heavily before the assault and accepted it had been unprovoked.

He said he had asked for a pre-sentence report on Murray earlier this week because he thought it would help him but in fact it had been 'very damaging' to him.

"Regrettably, he is a man who is not well educated and he finds it extremely difficult to communicate with anyone, including his own counsel," said Mr Young.

"It took some time before he began to be able to say things to me. In one-to-one discussions he does not come over very well."

Mr Young referred the court to a letter written to the judge by Murray's father.

Passing sentence Judge Martin Picton told Murray "This was a really, really ugly assault. There was no provocation to justify what you did,. You set about someone just having a normal evening out.

"For no good reason you laid into him with both fists. He put up no resistance. He had not done anything to justify it. You gave him a thoroughly good punching, leaving him with major injuries.

"It was a life changing event for the victim - not something you shrug off or get over."