Rugby player, 20, locked up for punching opponent during game

Paul Brian Brown, 20, was playing for the West Park Leeds Lions 3rd XV against Ilkley 3rd XV on September 27, 2008, when the incident occurred in the second half.

Sentencing him at Leeds Crown Court yesterday, Judge Paul Hoffman said Brown "delivered one powerful blow with a clenched fist" to the eye of David Tidman "which could so easily have blinded him".

The force of the punch felled Mr Tidman to the ground, knocking him out. The orbit bone of his right eye was shattered and he later had to have a bone graft from his pelvis to reconstruct it.

Judge Hoffman said the complainant was still suffering from some double vision and numbness.

He accepted Brown was a young man of excellent character and had read references on his behalf but he had continued to deny responsibility in the face of "overwhelming evidence" and had shown no remorse or sympathy for the victim.

Brown, of Heathfield Terrace, Headingley, Leeds, was found guilty by a jury of causing Mr Tidman grievous bodily harm.

Nadim Bashir, prosecuting, told the trial Mr Tidman, 35, was on leave from the Army when he was invited by a friend, the captain of the Ilkley 3rd XV, to play for them. He was getting up from a ruck after play moved on when he was struck. "This was a purely gratuitous piece of violence completely unrelated to the rugby match."

Brown had scored a try for his team in the first half and was identified by some of the Ilkley players as the person responsible on the West Park team.

He denied he was responsible and said he had not hit anyone during the game, blaming another player.

Nigel Edwards, representing Brown, told the court yesterday he still denied the offence. He had been a promising rugby player but had never played again since.

His place at Leeds Metropolitan University had also been suspended as a result of his conviction.