A factory worker who left a fellow pubgoer with a broken jaw was jailed yesterday.

At his trial last month, Morris Crowe has denied causing grievous bodily harm to Kevin Marlborough during a row at Finnigans bar, in Market Street, Hetton-le-Hole, Wearside, last August 27. He was found guilty by a jury at Newcastle Crown Court.

Crowe, 45, of of Thomas Street, Hetton-le-Hole, had told the court that Mr Marlborough had acted inappropriately towards his wife and her friend. He said he lashed out because he feared he would be attacked.

But he was jailed for nine months yesterday after Mr Recorder Dalziel said: "You punched the complainant and knocked him to the ground. When he was lying on the ground on his back, you knelt on him and punched him twice in the face and broke his jaw.

"Such an assault could cause serious injury or even death.

"You tried to tell a cock-and-bull story to the jury and involved your family and friends in it. But I accept you were inflamed by drink and convinced yourself the complainant had been guilty in some way of inappropriate behaviour with your wife."

Defence barrister Christopher Morrison said Crowe had led a respectable, industrious and law-abiding existence until the attack.