A SOUTHAMPTON man has been spared prison after a judge read a letter from his victim.

Lee Terrell suffered a fractured jaw after being struck with a flurry of punches outside a Southampton convenience store.

He and his attacker Malcolm Rogers had known each other for some time until they fell out.

The city crown court heard Rogers sent a text message to Mr Terrell saying they should sort it out. The pair met outside the Co-op shop in Weston Lane and what happened next was captured on security camera footage that was played in court.

It showed the men arguing at the entrance before Rogers punched the victim several times in the face. He then left and Mr Terrell walked unsteadily into the shop.

Prosecutor Carolyn Branford-Wood said Mr Terrell had little recollection of the violence and the next thing he remembered was being in the shop and hearing he had been assaulted.

He was taken to hospital where he underwent an operation for the fractured jaw.

Rogers, 46, of Lumpy Lane, Southampton, admitted inflicting grievous bodily harm.

He sat in a wheelchair outside the dock after defence solicitor Chris Gaiger explained he had been involved in a serious accident at work which resulted in him being detained in intensive care for five days and hospitalised for seven weeks.

Mr Gaiger said Rogers had pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity and had been severely provoked by remarks from Rogers, including one directed at his daughter, before “losing it”. He accepted that if he had not been drinking, he would have walked away.

Mr Gaiger then handed a two-page letter from Mr Terrell to the judge, Recorder Nicholas Gerasidmidis, who read it before passing sentence.

The judge said the victim admitted he had been drinking and taking drugs and it was apparent he was feeling the effects from the way he had been “dancing around”

Rogers.

The judge told the defendant: “There was considerable provocation in what he was doing and saying before you lost your temper.”

He then gave Rogers a 16 month suspended sentence.