A NEWPORT man who was the victim of an unprovoked assault as he enjoyed a quiet drink in a city pub has blasted his attacker's 12-month jail sentence.

Stuart Evans, aged 49, needed hospital treatment for his badly bruised and swollen nose and eye, and his false teeth were broken, in the attack last November.

Rhys Pettison, aged 24, of Darwin Drive, Newport, was jailed for a year this week after pleading guilty to causing actual bodily harm. But Mr Evans said: "It's disgusting, it's not enough. I did absolutely nothing wrong."

He said: "I didn't even know him, I didn't acknowledge him or even look at him."

Mr Evans said he had only just walked in to the Greyhound pub, in High Street, and ordered a pint, when Pettison took him by surprise.

He said he was just chatting to two friends about the Rugby World Cup, which was on at the time, when Pettison walked up to him, puched him in the face and ran off.

The stock-taker, from Morden Road, Newport, said: "I spent six days in hospital because I had to have my eyes tested and they had to reset my nose, so I couldn't work.

"I also had to pay about £200 for new teeth, and compensation wasn't offered for that either."

He added: "It's usually a quiet pub. I know the landlord and his daughter, and I usually nip in there after I've been shopping."

Newport crown court heard how Pettison had been making bets on the punishment he would receive less than an hour after the assault.

Sentencing Pettison - who already had 16 previous convictions, including a number for threatening behaviour and actual bodily harm - Judge Roderick Denyer, QC, said: "This was a completely unprovoked attack on a man enjoying a quiet drink in a pub.

"I think the public would be outraged if I didn't impose a custodial sentence."