A MAN has been jailed for six months after participating in a group assault which saw the victim battered unconscious – with tins of baked beans.

North Somerset Courthouse was told how Bruce Lawton, aged 50, was part of a group who attacked Lee O’Leary in Weston’s Wadham Street on Christmas Eve.

Magistrates said: “(The) offence (was) so serious because this assault was a group action which rendered the victim unconscious after being hit to the head with a carrier bag containing tins of baked beans.

“While the victim was unconscious on the floor the assault continued and involved kicking and punching to the head and body.

“The victim suffered significant injuries, including a cut to the head requiring five stitches.”

Lawton, of Westbourne Crescent in Clevedon, denied a single charge of assault by beating, but was found guilty during a trial.

The bench heard Lawton has ‘a lengthy history of violent offences’, which meant ‘a custodial sentence was inevitable’.