A Winchester man won't be going back to jail--even after his second conviction for violence in less than 18 months.

Instead, Thomas Richardson is being sent on a course for "enhanced thinking".

A Crown Court judge also ordered the 24-year-old groundworker, of Hurdle Way, Compton, to pay £440 costs after he admitted that, with his girlfriend, he assaulted Michael Murphy in Jewry Street, Winchester, on December 12th.

It was the second time in 18 months that Richardson, a former pupil at the private King Edward VI school in Southampton, had been convicted of violence.

In November, 1999, he was jailed for two years for assault, causing grievous bodily harm.

Andrew Massey, prosecuting, said the latest incident happened when the two men saw each other in Greens Wine Bar.

Murphy walked out and, soon afterwards, Richardson and Rebecca Gray, his girlfriend, attacked him.

Mr Massey read from Gray's statement to the police: "We were in Greens and Mick Murphy walked in and called me a little slag and walked out again.

I went out and Thomas followed me. I attacked him and that is how it began.

"We have been in several pubs and Murphy has had us thrown out and accused us of selling drugs. He seems to pretty much run the town," she said.

Mr Murphy suffered bruising and abdominal pain for months afterwards, the court was told.

At magistrates' court, Gray had pleaded guilty to assault, causing actual bodily harm and she was given 12 months' probation.

Richardson had admitted assault, causing actual bodily harm, and was committed to Crown Court for sentencing.

On his behalf, Ben Stephenson said there was a history between the two men as Murphy was a friend of John Tubbs, Richardson's victim in 1999.

"This young man realises that when he drinks too much, there is a danger he will lose control. He realises he stands in the greatest peril. He is otherwise a perfectly decent and respectable young man," he said.

Sentencing him, Judge Anthony Thompson QC, told Richardson: "I appreciate there is a background and history and I may not know the whole story."

He ordered him to go on an 18-month enhanced-thinking and skills programme run by the probation service and to attend 30 sessions to challenge his offending and help avoid alcohol.