A “fundamentally decent man” exploded in violence after drinking excessively and savagely attacked a barmaid outside a Maidstone bar, a court heard.

Gregory Lees headbutted Lex Giggs and then landed a flurry of blows as she lay injured on the ground.

The 29-year-old victim suffered a fractured eye socket and cheekbone and needed specialist surgery.

Supermarket worker Lees, 34, was jailed for almost five-and-a-half years after admitting causing grievous bodily harm with intent.

Maidstone Crown Court heard Miss Giggs had been deeply traumatised by the assault and did not return to her job at Earls in Earl Street.

She had been nearing the end of her shift on July 2 2014 when she went outside for a cigarette just before midnight.

Lees, of Park Way, Maidstone, and his girlfriend at the time also went outside and sat down near her. Miss Giggs knew he was drunk as his behaviour had been bizarre in the bar.

He swore at the victim and was saying he wanted to get to know her.

“She made it plain she did not want to talk to him,” said prosecutor Alexander Goudie. “He kept repeating bizarre things.”

It was after she asked him to leave the venue that he launched the attack, which was caught on CCTV.

Following the headbutt, he punched her four times. She staggered back into the bar and was then taken to hospital by ambulance.

She was referred to the Queen Victoria Hospital in East Grinstead for surgery.

Miss Giggs said in a victim statement she believed she was assaulted because of her sexuality. The attack, she said, made her frightened and paranoid.

Lees told police he suffered from blackouts could not remember exactly what happened. He remembered hitting Miss Giggs while she was on the ground.

Lees’ current girlfriend and his brother Mark gave character evidence on his behalf.

Jailing him for five years and five months, Judge Jeremy Carey said: “I have no doubt you genuinely believe the actions of that person are not you at all, but they are. They are you.”

The judge said he did not need to CCTV footage of the attack to show in it’s “graphic ugliness” what Lee was responsible for.

“Without wishing to rub it in, that is a consequence of your own behaviour. The use of your head is particularly repugnant" - Judge Jeremy Carey

“You used your head as a weapon and punched her with real purpose,” he said. “In the long term you have shattered her confidence.

“As time goes by she will make a full recovery, although she will never forget this appalling incident.”

The judge said Lees was cherished by his family, who were agonised by the position he found himself in.

But he added: “Because you are fundamentally decent man, you will understand there is only one consequence. You are a hard-working man and a family man who has lost just about everything.

“Without wishing to rub it in, that is a consequence of your own behaviour. The use of your head is particularly repugnant.”

Paul Hogben, defending, said the victim was “savagely beaten” and a man of good character who had love and respect had thrown it all away.