A THUG has been found guilty of punching a pensioner so hard he was knocked him out at Burnham Train Station.

Scott Newby, 22, of Anchorage View, St Lawrence, punched 68-year-old Roger Perrin when the pensioner tried to find out who had attacked his son.

Mr Perrin suffered a fractured eye socket, concussion, bruising, cuts, swelling and he lost a tooth.

Newby denied assault and grievous bodily harm but was convicted following a trial at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court.

He had been due to be sentenced at court on Thursday but magistrates decided their powers of six months in jail per offence and up to a year in total may not be enough.

Stephen Sparkes, prosecuting, told the court how Newby had become angry after Mr Perrin had approached him and his friends at the station.

He said: “Roger Perrin had parked up at the railway car park in Burnham on March 24 and saw there was a group of youths gathered on the platform.

“He approached them and asked if any of them knew the person who had assaulted his son during a previous incident a few weeks prior.

“At this point the defendant grew angry and demanded Mr Perrin explain why he was accusing him of beating his son, when in reality they had never met.

“Mr Perrin responded that he wasn’t accusing anyone and was just asking if the group knew.

“Despite attempts by his friends to calm him down, the defendant became angrier and his friends advised Mr Perrin to leave.

“He went towards his car, and this is the last thing he remembers until waking up in the care of the ambulance service.”

After knocking him out the court heard Newby then began celebrating what he had done claiming the victim should have “shown some respect”.

Hazel Hannan, mitigating, blamed his reaction on his ADHD and claimed he was remorseful.

She said: “Newby understands how gravely injured Mr Perrin was, he had no intention of knocking him out, and no weapons were used, just a single punch.

“He severely regrets what he’s done and wanted to apologise to Mr Perrin. He accepts it was a situation where he should have just walked away, but he reacted badly to being accused of an assault he never carried out.”

Chairman of the bench Karen Shorter ruled the case was too severe to be handled by magistrates and referred it to Chelmsford Crown Court.

Newby will be sentenced at Chelmsford Crown court on April 12 and could be jailed for several years