A MAN has been jailed for throwing a glass across a crowded Ribble Valley pub and injuring an innocent woman with flying fragments.

Andrew Holmes reacted after being ushered away from a conflict in the Black Bull at Chatburn.

Deborah Fox needed hospital treatment after the glass struck a wall, shattered into pieces and hit her face.

She has been left with a permanent cheek scar.

Holmes, 47, of Darkwood Crescent, Chatburn, had admitted unlawful wounding over the events last September.

Mrs Fox and her husband were also customers at the pub that night.

The defendant, who was jailed for 16 months, had become involved in an altercation with two men unconnected with the woman.

Her husband tried to calm things down between Holmes and another man by ushering Holmes from the main bar to the tap room.

But Holmes suddenly picked up a glass and threw it through to the main area of the bar with considerable force.

It struck part of a wall near where Mrs Fox was standing and the glass shattered.

Mrs Fox needed hospital treatment and was left with a permanent cheek scar.

She is still taking painkillers.

Holmes had pleaded guilty on the basis that what happened had been in the heat of the moment. He had had no intention to injure the woman.

Stuart Mills, defending, said: “The defendant is only too conscious of exactly what he has done to somebody he formerly considered a friend.

"He had lashed out by throwing a glass in frustration at what was going on.

"He had become embroiled in an argument that wasn't of his making.

"He is devastated not only at what he has done to the victim, but also about the village where he lives.

"He has said it is a place where this kind of thing never happens.

"He has regret and remorse and apologises.

"He says he has been banned from all pubs by the local Pubwatch organisation for five years".

Judge Robert Brown told Holmes: "Not only was there physical damage, but considerable psychological damage also.

"What you did was reckless in the extreme."