AN attack victim has got his two front teeth for Christmas, after a judge ruled the lout who knocked them out should pay for his operation instead of going to jail.

Labourer Kieron Wright, 31, left Darren Smith needing dental treatment costing £2,000, which he can't afford, after punching him when a row erupted at the Thatch and Thistle pub in Barrowford.

The trouble was captured on CCTV, which was played at Burnley Crown Court.

Mr Smith was knocked down, blood was pouring from his mouth and he saw his two upper front teeth on the floor. Attempts have been made to put the teeth back in, but the victim has been told he is going to have to have a tooth implant.

The court was told how the victim dealt face-to-face with the public in his employment. He now found work difficult and the injuries had shattered his confidence and affected his social life.

But he can now have surgery after Judge Beverley Lunt ordered Wright pay for it and said compensation would benefit the victim rather than the defendant being locked up.

She said: “He can get the dental work and start living a proper life again.”

Wright, of Hendon Road, Nelson, had admitted assault causing actual bodily harm on, committed while subject to a suspended sentence imposed for harassment. He has seven previous convictions.

Judge Lunt said his behaviour had been very stupid and it must have been a hard blow.

She told him: “You were drunk, people were drunk, but it can never be an excuse. It doesn't matter how he was behaving earlier in the evening. There was no excuse for violence."

The judge imposed seven months in prison, suspended for a year.

Nick Dearing, defending, said Wright wished he had walked away. The solicitor told the court: “He was genuinely shocked that he hurt this young man in that fashion.”