A THUG has been jailed for five years for a violent drunken attack in Bere Regis.

Benjamin Robert Fearnley, 21, was convicted of causing grievous bodily harm with intent to Matthew Huntley following a five-day trial. The jury in his trial at Dorchester Crown Court heard evidence that Fearnley, of Ringwood Road, Parkstone, repeatedly punched Mr Huntley to the face as he tried to stop the defendant from assaulting his girlfriend on the night of July 24 last year.

Mr Huntley said he and his fiancee Keeley had gone out of their home at around midnight after they heard shouting and he was set upon by Fearnley when he tried to intervene.

Mr Huntley suffered a broken jaw from the attack and was left with permanent scarring as a result of a wound above his eye.

The jury took less than two hours to reach a guilty verdict.

After imposing a five-year prison sentence, Judge Christopher Harvey Clark told the defendant: “Your behaviour on the night of July 24 was vicious and callous.

“In a foul mouthed, drunken and offensive way you were abusing and assaulting your girlfriend in a public car park in Bere Regis.

“Mr Huntley and his fiancee actively went to help your girlfriend and to pacify.

“He acted with old fashioned chivalry.

“You would not understand the meaning of the word.

“When he appeared on the scene to act as a peacemaker you took your aggression out on him.”

The judge added: “You left him unconscious on the ground choking on his own blood and then you casually sauntered off.

“For all you cared you could have left a man dying on the ground. You are a thug and I shall sentence you as a thug who has not learned his lesson.”

Officer in the case Acting Detective Sergeant Simon Austin welcomed the sentence and endorsed everything the judge had said.

He added: “It was a member of the public doing a brave thing to assist a female in distress.

“It is something not everybody would do and as a result he received injuries leaving him with permanent scarring. I hope the sentence acts as a deterrent to anyone who feels they can turn their anger on innocent members of the public who are trying to do the right thing.”