A MAN who kicked a stranger in the head in an unprovoked attack has walked free from court.

Karol Lyson, 28, put the boot in to a man as he sat with his back to a shop after he and a mate had tried to find their way to a nightclub.

But after hearing that Lyson had served more than two months on remand awaiting sentence a judge imposed a suspended sentence.

Colin Meeke, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court how friends Louis Day and Tom Taylor had gone out drinking on Friday, November 6.

After going to The Mallard in Lyneham, where Mr Taylor was at the barracks, the men went into Swindon where they carried on drinking with a large group of friends.

In the early hours of the following morning they decided to go to a nightclub but not being familiar with Swindon, asked for directions.

They then stopped close to Miss Selfridge at the bottom of Regent Street.

“Mr Taylor sat down next to a wall a rolled a cigarette and was kicked in the head by Lyson for no apparent reason,” said Colin Meeke, prosecuting.

He said both Mr Day and Mr Taylor suffered broken noses in the attack as well as cuts and bruises and Mr Taylor also lost a tooth.

Mr Meeke told the court that police tracked the attackers down to a van, where Lyson was sitting in the vehicle with the engine running.

He was obstructive and difficult and had to be threatened with a Taser before he got out of the vehicle and was arrested, refusing to give a sample of breath.

When he was questioned he accepted he punched one man and kicked another but could not explain why.

Lyson, of Whitehead Street, admitted two counts of actual bodily harm and failing to provide a specimen.

Mike Jeary, defending, said his client was a Pole who had been in the UK for seven years and had always worked, most recently as an electricity pylon painter.

He said he had been in custody since before Christmas and because of that and the fact he will lose his driving licence he will need to find new work.

Passing sentence Recorder Michael Vere-Hodge QC said: “It is not clear what happened but what is clear is you kicked a man in the face, and that is a terrible thing to do.

“When you kick a man in the face with a shod foot you take your chance: sometimes people die as a result of being kicked to the head.”

He imposed an nine-month jail term suspended for two years and banned him from the road for six months.

A second man, Patrick Le Van, 22, of Bognor Regis, West Sussex, admitted common assault for throwing one punch and was fined £250. A third is wanted by police after jumping bail.