A PUB customer needed 25 stitches in his face after being glassed in a Bewdley pub by a drunken man, Worcester Crown Court heard.

Neil Mole lashed out at Martin Taylor with a beer glass at the Horn and Trumpet following tension between two groups of men.

The defendant was later attacked in the street in an act of revenge by the victim's friends, said his barrister William Rickarby.

Mole, 25, of Masefield Gardens, Kidderminster, pleaded guilty to unlawful wounding. He was sentenced to a two-year community rehabilitation order and given 60 hours community work. He was also ordered to pay the victim £250 compensation.

Recorder Daniel Pearce-Higgins QC said he was responsible for "a gross over-reaction" with the glass and normally such crimes were punished by a significant period in jail.

But he said Mole had already served the equivalent of eight months in custody on remand and had a job to return to.

Prosecutor Brett Stevenson said Mole was drunk on the night he made a nuisance of himself in the pub.

He said he launched an unprovoked attack on Mr Taylor. Mole suffered a cut hand in a skirmish outside the pub. He had a record for dishonesty, being drunk and disorderly and violence.

Mr Rickarby claimed the victim had suspected his partner of having an affair with someone in the defendant's group, and this had led to friction.