A MAN who stamped on a friend’s head in a violent booze-fuelled attack outside a pub has been given a last chance by a judge.

Ryan Backshell, who had downed six pints of Stella Artois, claimed his drink must have been spiked when he launched the vicious attack on Shane Johnson.

As well as putting the boot into his pal’s head the 23-year-old also stamped on Mr Johnson’s stomach as he lay prone after the first attack.

But after learning Backshell, who had already completed an alcohol awareness course, had given up drinking and received counselling for other issues, a judge spared him a jail sentence.

Claire Marlow, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court that Mr Johnson was at The Windmill, in Toothill, with the defendant and another friend on Wednesday, October 8.

The court heard how, as the evening wore, Backshell grew progressively louder and was rude to the landlady when time was called.

“The defendant continued to be abusive to people including one older man who tried to calm him down. He was also abusive to the landlady. He was then asked to leave,” Miss Marlow said He had words with Mr Johnson, before putting him in a head lock, throwing him to the floor and stamping on his face.

The third friend stepped in and tried to calm Backshell. Police arrived and saw the defendant stamp on Mr Johnson’s stomach as he lay apparently unconscious.

In response to police questioning Backshell said he thought his drinks must have been spiked as he could not remember what had happened.

Backshell, of Warneford Close, Toothill, pleaded guilty to actual bodily harm.

Leanne Evans, defending, said: “Quite simply, he is horrified by his actions. He is extremely sad and ashamed that he acted in the way he did.”

She said that at the time of the offence he had just separated from his partner, who was now pregnant. He hoped soon to start an apprenticeship.

Since the incident, said Ms Evans, Backshell had stopped drinking and was also getting help for issues from his past.

Recorder Peter Towler said: “Spiked or not six pints of Stella is an awful lot of drink for someone who should have learned on that programme what drink does.

“People who stamp on other people’s heads or on the stomach, colloquially known as putting the boot in, go to prison.

“I am sure you have been told that that is the normal course of events. If you had been convicted after a trial I would have imposed on you a period of two years’ imprisonment.

“Efforts you have made since this offence, not so much getting off drink but going to your GP and seeking help and getting counselling, mean I am going to impose a suspended prison sentence.”

The judge jailed him for 15 months, suspended for two years, and told him he would be under supervision for 18 months and had to observe a three-month curfew.

He would also have to attend an anger management programme.