A soldier was hit in the face by a man with a bottle in a revenge attack after an incident in a bar.

Stewart Stark had been standing outside the Lashings Bar in Upper Stone Street in Maidstone waiting for a taxi.

He was then confronted by thug Alan McDougall who told him: "This is because your friend hit me."

Prosecutor Stacy-Lee Holland told how he then punched the soldier several times in the face, hit him above the right eye with the glass before kicking him, leaving him covered in blood.

Now McDougall, 24, of Ashford Road, Maidstone has been jailed for 18 months after admitting a charge of unlawful wounding.

Deputy Circuit Judge Andrew Goymer told him: "This was a revenge attack because of a wrong which had been done to you.

"This was a very serious offence of violence. You used a weapon to attack him and hit him in the face.

"And the use of a weapon in a revenge attack, like a bottle in the face, makes this offence so serious that only an immediate sentence of imprisonment is appropriate."

The prosecutor said that as a result of his injuries after the attack on January 26 last year, Mr Stark was taken to Maidstone Hospital where doctors glued a 2cm eye wound.

He was also treated for a number of bumps to the back of his head and was still complaining of headaches for several days.

Ms Holland said he was examined again, diagnosed with severe concussion and was off work until March 2020.

She added that the military officer missed out on a chance of promotion because he was unable to take a special course and had to wait until March this year to complete the course.

The prosecutor told the court that Mr Stark was still facing continuing problems for his facial injury.

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