A TEENAGER who fractured another young man's jaw in two places has been sentenced to 150 hours community service.

David Rees, 18, swung out with a cricket bat after a group of youths went to cause trouble at a house and he himself was hit.

Rees, of Kay View, Darwen, had admitted a wounding offence. He was also told to pay £656 costs by a Preston Crown Court judge.

Recorder Raymond Herman said had it not been for the victim going there to cause trouble, Rees would have received a custodial sentence. He told Rees: "You are not someone with a natural instinct to commit crime."

Rees had no previous convictions.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.