A THUG has been jailed for nine months after breaking a man’s jaw during a drunken assault in Colchester.

Samuel Livermore admitted causing grievous bodily harm without intent following an incident in the town on January 31 last year.

The 21-year-old threw one punch at his male victim, whose injuries were so serious his jaw was fractured on both sides following the assault.

At a sentencing hearing yesterday Chelmsford Crown Court heard the victim still has no feeling in part of his chin.

Livermore, of Holman Crescent, Colchester, has two previous convictions, for battery in 2017, and for grievous bodily harm in 2018, for which he was handed a suspended prison sentence and a high-level community order.

Judge Tim Walker said he could not be persuaded to suspend the sentence this time round and sent Livermore to jail for nine months immediately.

He said: “You remain a very young man who has not learned from his previous offending.

“You admitted you were drunk and you have a previous conviction for a near identical offence for which you received a suspended sentence.

“There are mitigating factors such as this being a single punch, the remorse you have shown and your lack of maturity. But this offence is so serious that custody is the only option.

“Without your guilty plea it would have been for a period of 12 months. This will now be nine months.

“I take the view the appropriate punishment can only be immediate custody.”

He added: “You will be released after no more than half of the sentence and remain under post sentence supervision.”