A bank worker has been warned he is facing a jail sentence for viciously attacking a woman in the street.

Jack Davies punched 34-year-old Kerry Smith, knocking her unconscious in the early hours of November 27 last year.

Davies, of South Avenue, Gillingham, admitted assault causing actual bodily harm.

A judge had previously indicated that the maximum sentence he would impose was 12 months imprisonment.

Robert Hall, defending, told a judge at Maidstone Crown Court he hoped to persuade him to suspend the sentence.

But Judge Philip Statman said: "I will order a report but it is only to ensure every single base is covered.

"If you hit someone in a public place and it is a woman in the street at night, then you jolly well go to prison for it."

Miss Smith was on a night out in Maidstone with work colleagues when the assault happened outside Atila's kebab takeaway.

Mr Hall said Davies, 22, had worked at LloydsTSB for four years.

He said: "One is mindful of the fact that prisons are overcrowded. It may be society would gain more by leaving him in that employment.

"He could pay compensation and there could be a suspended sentence hanging over him, rather than taking him out of that environment and making him a burden on society. It may be he has been brave in entering his plea."

Judge Statman replied: "He certainly wasn't brave on the day, that's for sure."

Davies was granted bail until sentencing on October 31.