A UNIVERSITY student needed 26 stitches after being struck in the face with a glass at a Southampton nightclub.

James Lennox now fears his career in hotel management may be jeopardised after being left with a permanent scar.

The drama happened when he was dancing with his girlfriend at the Junk nightclub in London Road.

Prosecutor Sarah Dineley said he accidentally bumped into another woman, the girlfriend of teenager Joseph Jennings, and turned to apologise.

The two men then exchanged words before the student heard the glass breaking.

At Southampton General Hospital, he had 24 stitches inserted for a deep, five centimetre wound and two stitches for a smaller cut.

Mr Lennox told police in an impact statement how he had been an outgoing friendly person before the attack, which had put him back a month in his studies in his final year and he had since lost confidence in crowds.

Jennings, a 21-year-old apprentice gas fitter, of Archery Grove, Weston, admitted wounding and was jailed for 16 months.