A TEENAGER who punched a drunken man in the face leaving him in a coma and requiring round-the-clock care has been jailed.

Gary Wilson lost his temper when Steven Seal branded a member of his family a "dirty lesbian" during a confrontation in a pub.

Teesside Crown Court heard his victim fell and hit his head on a wall after Wilson attacked him outside the Green Tree pub, in Stockton, following the outburst on January 19.

Mr Seal was knocked unconscious and spent several weeks in a coma before being discharged from hospital three months later.

The court was told he now has to be artificially fed and will not recover fully from the attack for a number of years.

Miriam Rasoul, prosecuting, said the incident took place at about 10.20pm.

She said: "The injured party was captured on CCTV cameras walking from the public house. He was followed by the defendant. The defendant moved close to the injured party and struck him once to the head."

The prosecution accepted Mr Seal was drunk and had been escorted from the pub twice during the evening because of inappropriate behaviour towards other drinkers.

Paul Cleasby, mitigating, said his 18-year-old client, who was 17 at the time of the attack, had not intended to cause his victim serious harm.

He said: " He was upset that his family member had received such abuse from the man.

"Mr Wilson did not flee the scene. He remained there and assisted Mr Seal into the ambulance."

Wilson, of Darwin Court, Hemlington, Middlesbrough, who admitted grievous bodily harm, was sentenced to nine months imprisonment.