Busybody Jamie Gibbs poked his nose into somebody else’s business...and landed himself behind bars.

Through a drunken haze, the 23-year-old saw a couple arguing in the centre of Margate and thought a woman was “in distress”.

Without saying a word, he downed David Loveridge with one punch – shattering his jaw and knocking him unconscious, Canterbury Crown Court heard.

Judge James O‘Mahony told Gibbs, of College Road, Margate: “This was none of your business.

"You had clearly drunk too much. You could have said or shouted something to deal with it more appropriately.

“Instead you went up to your victim and, without any warning, you punched him with such force that he went out like a light.”

Gibbs pleaded guilty to inflicting grievous bodily harm on the day of his trial and was jailed for 21 months.

Prosecutor Andrew Espley told how Mr Loveridge – who has a pacemaker fitted to his heart – was out drinking with his girlfriend and her sister.

“This is not the first time you have demonstrated a propensity to use violence. I appreciate that you didn’t use a weapon but you did deliver one devastating punch” - Judge James O'Mahony

They visited Cecils Bar and the Kabuki Bar and were in the centre of the town when Mr Loveridge and his girlfriend began arguing.

Mr Espley said that as her sister stood between the two, Gibbs appeared and punched Mr Loveridge in the cheek without warning.

He was treated for a fracture and needed a titanium plate fitted to his jaw but he was still suffering nightmares and was on painkillers months after the incident last July, the prosecutor said.

Gibbs later told police he thought he saw a “woman in distress” and lashed out – but was now remorseful and accepted he could have handled the situation better.

The judge told Gibbs: “You caused him a very serious injury with lasting effects. You are a very powerful young man and you have used violence in the past – including three previous convictions for assault.

“This is not the first time you have demonstrated a propensity to use violence. I appreciate that you didn’t use a weapon but you did deliver one devastating punch.”