The victim of an attack at a pub said it felt as though someone was trying to gouge his eye out.

Jason Prescott told a jury the pain caused him to pass out on the decking of the Cricketers in Crabble Avenue, Dover on June 28 last year.

And he said he was 100 per cent sure that his attacker was Jamie McKeown, 30, a champion boxer.

But McKeown told Canterbury Crown Court that he did not hurt Mr Prescott.

“I did not try to gouge his eyes out,” McKeown said. “I saw Mr Prescott being restrained four or five feet away from me in a sleep hold.

“Someone had him round the neck, stopping him from attacking me. I could see him losing consciousness. I did not do anything to his face.”

McKeown, of London Road, Dover denies causing grievous harm to Mr Prescott and also denies an alternative charge of causing actual harm.

Mr Prescott told Canterbury Crown Court that he went to the Cricketers about 5.30pm to watch a World Cup game. His wife Sarah had been manager there for four days.

"I felt fingers down the left side of my face and I thought he was trying to pop or gouge my eye out...” Jason Prescott

He sat at the bar and became aware of a man and woman raising their voices. His wife came over to diffuse the situation. The man was McKeown.

“He got aggressive towards my wife and tried to intimidate her,” Mr Prescott said. “I stood between the two of them and he didn’t like that.

“He came towards me and I pushed him away with two hands on his chest.”

They went outside and Mr Prescott said McKeown grabbed hold of his head and he immediately felt pressure on his eyes.

“I felt fingers down the left side of my face and I thought he was trying to pop or gouge my eye out,” Mr Prescott said.

He passed out and when he came round someone helped him back inside the pub and the police were called.

Asked by Vivian Walters, prosecuting, how sure he was that his attacker was McKeown and that he was also the man who had raised his voice in the pub, Mr Prescott replied 100 per cent sure.

Gordon Ross, defending McKoewn, suggested that another man had restrained Mr Prescott and rendered him unconscious. Mr Prescott said no.

Mr Prescott was unable to open his eye for four days and took months to recover fully from the injury, Miss Walters said.

McKeown told the court he was the southern area lightweight boxing champion and also coached the sport.

He said Mr Prescott had manhandled him out of the pub and added: “I was thrown out by a man I did not know and who was twice the size of me.

“I then got restrained by my brother and other people and put up against a fence. I did not put my thumbs into Mr Prescott’s eyes. I did not do anything to him.”

The trial continues.

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