A man suffered multiple fractures of his cheekbone after being punched to the ground in Worcester city centre by a drunken assailant.

Keith Farmer had visited a number of pubs and was walking home at 11.30pm when he was struck in the face.

He had been followed by four men in a Vauxhall Corsa before passenger Ross Cave got out and landed a single blow.

Cave's barrister Michael Aspinall said talk inside the car had led him to exact "summary justice" but there had been no truth in what he had been told.

He was very drunk which had impaired his thinking, Worcester Crown Court heard.

Cave, aged 19, of Bromwich Road, St John's, Worcester, pleaded guilty to inflicting grievous bodily harm. He was given 12 months' detention.

Mr Farmer, aged 58, was walking near a fish and chip shop in Broad Street when he was attacked on July 4, said Graeme Simpson, prosecuting.

The violence also affected his right orbital nerve which is not expected to recover. He needed a metal plate inserting into his cheek and a bone graft.

A witness took the number of the car and Cave was traced the next day by police.

Mr Aspinall said Cave, who had a record of 33 offences - many for violence - had behaved in a stupid and aggressive manner.

He had wrongly believed that what he had heard in the car gave him an excuse to be violent.

"This was a terrible thing to do but he did not intend to cause such serious injuries," added Mr Aspinall.

Bricklayer Cave, who has a partner and a child, hoped to go on an alcohol awareness course.

Judge Andrew Geddes told the defendant: "This was a wicked thing to do without excuse. You punched a complete stranger with very great force."