A SOLDIER who thrust a broken glass into a Christmas nightclubber's face has been jailed for four years.

Andrew Hempton, 20, held his head in his hands as a Burnley Crown Court jury convicted him of wounding Nigel Copley with intent to do him grievous bodily harm in the early hours of Christmas Eve.

Mr Copley, a salesman, needed 50 stitches around his eye after the attack by Hempton, at the time absent without leave from The King's Royal Hussars, stationed at Munster, Germany. He had done a six-month tour of duty in Bosnia before going AWOL.

Sentencing Hempton, assistant recorder Alan Booth said Mr Copley, 19, could easily have been blinded by his actions.

He added, however, that the victim had approached Hempton in an aggressive manner, shouting at him and aiming punches. Hempton, of Waddington Avenue, Burnley, denied the allegation and will start his detention at a young offenders' institution.

The jury had been told the defendant, born in Germany, had broken a glass on the basin and drove it into Mr Copley's face in Club 53, Burnley.

Mr Copley, who had been hit in the face on the dance floor at first didn't know if the blow was deliberate or accidental.

He followed Hempton into the toilets, shouted at him and punches were exchanged before the defendant struck with the glass. Mr Copley needed 50 stitches and glass fragments had to be removed from his face.

Jeffrey Samuels, defending, said Hempton had been in custody since the offence.

On the night of the allegation he had been subjected to provocation and the initial aggressor verbally and physically was Mr Copley, who got more than he expected.

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