A TEENAGER was put behind bars yesterday for an attack which will probably leave his victim deaf in one ear for life.

Philip Dring, 19, was waiting in the street for a lift to his night shift when he was attacked by Gary Read, who he knew.

Teesside Crown Court heard that Read, also 19, asked him: "What's this about you starting a fight with me?"

Mr Dring replied: "I don't want to fight with you, go away."

Read butted and punched him, then hit him on the head with a wine bottle as he tried to escape, said Sam Andrews, prosecuting.

Mr Dring fell unconscious in Linthorpe Road, Middlesbrough, outside Fellini's rest-aurant.

A diner called an ambulance, whose paramedic crew saw he was bleeding from his left ear with a fractured skull.

Mr Dring woke up in Middlesbrough General Hospital where he was detained for six days. He has a serious loss of hearing in his right ear which is likely to be permanent, the court heard.

Read, a roofer, was described in references as quiet, placid, good natured, honest and hardworking, said Paul Newcombe, defending.

The teenager, of Bush Street, Linthorpe, Middlesbrough, was sent to a young offenders' institution for eight months after he pleaded guilty to grievous bodily harm.