A SECOND year criminology student who hopes to become a police officer was jailed for four months after breaking another man's jaw in a Southampton nightspot.

Drunken Ryan Hayter was under the impression that the girlfriend of one of his pals was being "chatted up" and not enjoying it.

But the city crown court heard that Hayter had got the wrong impression.

The victim, James Davies, suddenly felt a punch to the right side of his face, said prosecutor Sarah Dineley.

Initially he felt stunned and did not think he was hurt, but the following morning his jaw was extremely painful and he went to hospital.

There he was found to have a double fracture of the jaw and the blow had impacted on a wisdom tooth.

He had an operation to remove the tooth and two metal plates were inserted in his jaw.

In interview, Hayter was asked how drunk he was on a scale of 1-10. He replied, eight or nine, said Ms Dineley.

Hayter, 20, of Wilton Avenue, Polygon, admitted causing grievous bodily harm.

Passing sentence, Judge Christopher Leigh QC told him: "It is an absolute tragedy for you but you have brought it upon yourself."

In mitigation, Jeremy Barton said Hayter had little idea of the level of damage he might have caused because he was very drunk.