A thug who fractured a man’s face in a “savage and cowardly” attack told police after his arrest: “If you are going to do it, don’t go half-hearted.”

Canterbury Crown Court heard Karl Simpson, from Hythe, rained as many as six punches on his defenceless victim, leaving him needing surgery to fix three metal plates and 20 screws into his cheekbone and eye socket.

Almost 18 months on from the attack during a night out at The Ashford Club, the man is still feeling its harmful impact - and it was for that reason that a judge this week said he had to jail cannabis user Simpson despite his own mental health problems.

The court was told the 31-year-old did not know his victim but had been told by two women he had been pestering them on the dancefloor at the High Street venue during the early hours of September 17, 2022.

CCTV captured the moment Simpson approached the stranger to speak to him about his behaviour.

However, as a verbal dispute flared between the two men and the females tried to intervene, Simpson “over-reacted” and suddenly lashed out.

Prosecutor Stacey-Lee Holland said it was accepted the victim had been “complicit” in the row but referring to the footage she told the court: “While the complainant has turned to one of the females, the defendant punched him in the face, causing him to fall backwards.

“He doesn’t have a chance to recover or get up before the defendant lays into him, punching him four or five times.

“The complainant offers no resistance to the onslaught and the defendant only stops when a member of staff steps in and he is escorted out.”

Simpson, of Reachfields, was arrested and admitted when interviewed that he had hit the man.

“He said the complainant kept coming at him, so he warned him he was going to hit him, but he added, ‘Like my brother said, if you are going to do it, don’t go half-hearted’,” continued the prosecutor.

“The defendant said he didn’t intend to cause the injuries that he had - he just wanted the complainant to ‘f*** off’.”

"This was a truly disgusting display of violence which has had a terrible effect on the victim...”

Three victim impact statements - one made as recently as last month - were read to the court and detailed the lasting effects of the attack. These included nerve damage, blurred vision and anxiety.

“He said he will often break down in tears when sitting doing nothing and still finds it difficult to talk about,” added Ms Holland.

Simpson pleaded guilty to inflicting grievous bodily harm, as well as an unrelated offence of perverting the course of justice in January last year.

The court heard that having crashed his Vauxhall Corsa while drunk, he fled the scene, only to walk into Grays police station in Essex a few minutes later and, with a nasty cut to his lip, lie at length about being assaulted and ask for help getting home.

Officers took him to hospital and then started an investigation into the alleged attack.

However, they soon realised his story was entirely fictitious after a member of the public reported the smash and gave a description of the driver.

His phone had also been left behind in the Corsa and on arrest the car key was found in his trouser pocket.

James Burke, defending, said Simpson was “truly remorseful for over-reacting” during his night out in Ashford but was struggling at the time to cope with the death of a close relative in 2020 and then the discovery that his girlfriend had cheated on him.

He added that the defendant also lost his job as a plasterer but had sought help with the community mental health team as “his life unravelled.”

Urging the court to give Simpson “a chance” by imposing a suspended sentence, Mr Burke said: “This was an incident which occurred with someone under enormous strain.”

However, in spite of what was described as powerful mitigation as well as genuine remorse and regret, Recorder John Bate-Williams said prison was inevitable.

Jailing Simpson on Wednesday for a total of 19 months, the judge told him: “This was a despicable attack on a man totally unprepared for your cowardly attack. He was looking away from you and posed no threat.

“What’s more, after your first punch caused him to fall back onto a settee defenceless, you continued to savagely punch him five times on my count and had to be pulled off.

“This was a truly disgusting display of violence which has had a terrible effect on the victim.

“I have carefully considered the sentencing guidelines and I accept there is strong personal mitigation, a realistic prospect of rehabilitation, and a prison sentence could cause some impact on your daughter.

“But the way in which you attacked your victim and the grievous bodily harm caused, combined with the risks of further offending identified with your ongoing cannabis use, the appropriate punishment can only be achieved by immediate custody.

“The sudden and savage attack on your victim has left him with significant physical, emotional and psychological symptoms that are clearly still affecting him.”