A HAMPSHIRE teenager has been locked up for kicking his friend in the face.

Karl Chadwick was drunk when he pushed Andrew Bryant into a bush then “kicked out wildly”, a court heard.

Bryant was left with a fractured eye socket and lost a tooth.

He also needed an operation and still has a droop on one side of his face.

Winchester Crown Court heard how both men, who had known each other for around four years, had attended a birthday party in New Milton.

The court was told how the atmosphere of the party had changed with a number of men play fighting outside, which turned nasty.

Jane Terry, prosecuting, said the victim recalled how Chadwick had grabbed him with both hands and pushed him into a bush.

She said the victim would not have been aware if it was a stamp or a kick, but Chadwick accepted causing the injuries. The 19-year-old admitted causing grievous bodily harm during the incident on the evening of July 14 last year.

He was sentenced to 12 months in a young offenders’ institution.

Nicholas Rimmer, mitigating, said it was a single blow and Chadwick was drunk.

He said Chadwick had “kicked out wildly in the dark”

and had not been aiming for Mr Bryant’s head or face.

“He’s deeply ashamed of the no doubt serious injuries he has caused,” he added.

He said Chadwick, who works as a kitchen porter at the Chewton Glen hotel, had had an argument with his girlfriend the day before.

He added that Chadwick had felt in his drunken state there was some provocation as, when Chadwick was restraining Mr Bryant during the play fight, he felt a blow had been aimed at him.

He said Chadwick, of Brownsea Close, New Milton, has stopped drinking.

The court also heard that Chadwick had previously been sentenced by Southampton Crown Court after buggies were taken and driven across the Barton-on-Sea golf course and found wrecked at the bottom of the cliffs, leaving the club with a bill of nearly £20,000.

Chadwick pleaded guilty, along with others, to taking the buggies without consent.

He also pleaded guilty to damaging locks, chains and security devices on the buggies.