A BUILDING worker who attacked a pub customer with a bottle denied the offence despite "the clearest possible evidence", according to a judge.

James Carter attacked David Bevan outside the Brockhill pub, in Willow Way, Batchley, and was convicted by a jury of assault causing actual bodily harm.

But his counsel Jabeen Akhtar said he still rejected the verdict in a pre-sentence report, insisting he did not use a bottle.

Jailing Carter, of Salters Lane, Redditch, for 18 months, Judge John Cavell said he had intervened after another fight involving Mr Bevan and pushed the bottle "extremely hard" into his forehead.

The judge added: "You are fortunate not to have been charged with wounding. "Those who use bottles - with all the risks to vulnerable parts of the face - must go to jail.

"You still deny it against the clearest possible evidence and therefore can be given no credit."

Following an argument in the pub on July 31 last year, four men followed Mr Bevan outside but he got the better of one of them in a fight, said Kate Iliffe, prosecuting at Worcester Crown Court.

Carter then got involved, using the bottle he was carrying as a weapon. The victim suffered a cut forehead which needed hospital treatment.

Miss Akhtar said 22-year-old Carter had been drinking from the bottle and the offence was not premeditated.

He and his former partner had a four-year-old daughter.

Jail would affect his ability to provide for the child she said.