A THUG repeatedly punched an innocent man after tripping him up while he and his friends went on a drunken rampage during a stag do.

Lee Powell launched an unprovoked attack on Russell Wincott at a busy Auberge pub as he and his pals ran riot on a sunny Saturday in Abergavenny. 

Three of the defendant’s mates were jailed last November for their roles in the violence which erupted at and around the bar on June 22, 2019.

Powell, 34, of Waunheulog, Nantyglo, pleaded guilty to causing Mr Wincott actual bodily harm and also admitted affray.

MORE NEWS: Hammer attack woman back in court for breaching suspended jail sentence

Prosecutor Ruth Smith told Cardiff Crown Court how the defendant’s group had been drinking while they were celebrating a stag do and were “heavily intoxicated”.

She said: “Mr Powell tried to trip Mr Wincott up in an unprovoked attack before throwing punches at his head. He was knocked to the ground.”

The victim was taken to Abergavenny’s Nevill Hall Hospital where he was treated for injuries which included a perforated eardrum.

The court heard how Powell has 25 previous convictions for 35 offences, including violence, drugs, public disorder and dishonesty.

Last year, he was jailed with a county councillor for conspiracy to steal.

John Ryan, mitigating, asked the court to give his client full credit for his early guilty plea.

His barrister stressed the two-year delay in bringing the case to court was not the defendant’s fault.

Mr Ryan added: “He was heavily intoxicated and wishes to apologise to his victim.”

Powell was, he stressed, “free from drugs and alcohol now”.

The judge, Recorder IWL Jones, said: “You carried out a sustained and repeated attack, using multiple punches.

“The behaviour by you and others in your group was quite disgusting.

“It was an unprovoked attack and your victim suffered a serious injury.”

But the judge said he was able to spare Powell immediate custody because of the “inexcusable delay in this case”.

The defendant was jailed for eight months, suspended for 18 months.

He was ordered to attend 19 sessions of a thinking skills programme and was made the subject of a 90-day alcohol abstinence order.