TWO young men were involved in a violent attack on a teenage drinker said to have been sparked by "disparaging" remarks made by one group.

It resulted in a confrontation outside the Labour Club, in Horden, late on March 16.

Durham Crown Court was told that after things appeared to have calmed, violence flared again when the people involved returned to the pool room of the Sunderland Road premises.

Chris Williamson, prosecuting, said one of those involved in the earlier confrontation, 23-year-old Colin Bennett, struck a 17-year-old youth on the head with a bottle. The victim fell to the floor, where he was kicked around the head and body.

He briefly lost consciousness and needed hospital treatment for a three-inch cut to his head, a cut lip and a sore hand.

Mr Williamson said the victim said he had gone out for a quiet night out and felt it was an unprovoked attack.

He was concerned he might suffer long-term scarring.

Bennett and 24-year-old accomplice Michael Charters were arrested and made admissions.

Although Bennett initially claimed there was an element of self-defence, he has since conceded that the victim was posing no threat at the time, added Mr Williamson.

Bennett, of Conyers Crescent, Horden, admitted wounding. The court heard he has a similar charge on his record, dating from 2003. Charters, of McGuinness Avenue, also Horden, admitted common assault.

Nick Cartmell, for Bennett, said, despite his previous conviction, it was out of character, and claimed a remark passed about a lewd act by a female friend of one of the drinkers at the club, appeared to have sparked the initial confrontation.

Mr Cartmell, said that Bennett, a former soldier who had to leave the Army because of a knee injury, reacted, "in a wholly inappropriate and regrettable way".

Susan Hirst, for Charters, said he initially tried to act as a peacemaker in the confrontation outside the pub, and played only a minor role in the subsequent assault, kicking the victim to the legs and body.

Recorder Katherine Buckingham jailed Bennett for a year and made Charters the subject of a two-year community order, during which he must perform 80-hours' unpaid work, and pay £260 compensation.