A binge drinker, who kicked a helpless man twice in the face, could have killed him, Worcester Crown Court heard.

Matthew White and a friend attacked Rohim Shafi outside Hoolahans pub in Bromsgrove.

The other man pushed him over and White then lashed out as Mr Shafi tried to get up, said Neil Chawla, prosecuting.

The victim had nose, eye socket, lip and leg injuries and needed hospital treatment.

Judge Bruce Coles told 30-year-old White, of Alderley Road, Bromsgrove, he could have been facing a manslaughter charge.

"You could have killed this man. Kicking someone in the head seems to be more common. It was a vicious, nasty attack."

He jailed White for two years after viewing a CCTV film which captured the horrific assault on December 23 last year.

The victim was waiting for a taxi when White and his friend approached them and an argument started, said Mr Chawla.

Police who arrested White at the scene found bloodstains on his trainers. He claimed he had no memory of the attack because of the alcohol he had drunk.

White had previous convictions for violent disorder, possession of a weapon, drug offences and had been given a two-year anti-social behaviour order in 2004.

Julian Harris, defending, said in a letter he wrote to the judge, White accepted it was time he grew up and changed his behaviour.

"He had drunk far too much at Christmas," he added. "By chance, the injuries were not as severe as they might have been."

White's friend, who only landed punches on the victim, was ordered to carry out 180 hours of unpaid work by a magistrates' court for assault.