Dance-floor drink spill in Leeds pub led to man needing surgery after vicious assault
Victim tried to de-escalate the situation in the car park
A pub reveller was left with multiple face fractures after being set upon by two men in a pub car park over a spilled drink.
Daniel Bishop and Chad Noble were both charged with GBH after the sickening Cross Gates attack.
Leeds Crown Court was told that it was victim's drink that was knocked over in The Travellers' Rest on the evening of October 18 last year.
A woman had knocked into him and she then offered to buy him another, but he declined, prosecutor Zanisha Herbert said.
She then approached Bishop and talked to him. The victim approached them to explain that it was simply an accident but Bishop began to become irate.
They went outside to talk and CCTV showed Bishop acting aggressively while the victim was "trying to de-escalate the situation".
Bishop, 30, then punched the man to the mouth, causing him to stumble backwards.
Noble, 27, then inexplicably stepped up and punched the man, causing him to the fall to the floor.
Bishop punched him three more times to the head while he was on the floor.
After a brief pause, Bishop waded in with further blows, throwing another four punches before security staff stepped in.
The victim suffered a fractured eye socket, jaw and cheek bone. He required surgery to insert metal plates into his face.
Both Bishop and Noble were later arrested, with Bishop telling officers during his interview that the victim had threatened to stab him, a claim he later dropped.
Mitigating for unemployed Bishop, Chloe Hudson said he had no previous convictions, that his partner was pregnant and that he "wanted to build a family life".
She said his sentence could be suspended and added: "There's a great deal of remorse shown by him.
"He is very willing, wants to work and to apologise. There is another side to this man."
For Noble, Michael Walsh said: "He was clearly foolish to become involved in this incident.
"He involved himself in unlawful violence."
Judge Simon Batiste handed both defendants suspended sentences, but told Bishop he was "incredibly close to going to prison".
Bishop, of Cromwell Heights, Burmantofts, was given a 20-month sentence suspended for two years, with a 120-day alcohol-abstinence requirement and 200 hours of unpaid work.
Noble, of Chelsfield Way, Manston, was given an eight-month sentence, suspended for 12 months.
He was given a 90-day day alcohol-abstinence requirement, 100 hours of unpaid work and five days of rehabilitation with probation.
Judge Batiste ordered both defendants to pay £1,250 each in compensation to the victim.