A VIOLENT thug who battered a dad out enjoying the rugby in Newport has been sentenced to eight months in jail.

Shaun Ryan, 25, of Chapel Street, Pontnewydd, Cwmbran, had already pleaded guilty to a charge of unlawful wounding in relation to what the Recorder of Cardiff, Judge Eleri Rees, described as a “totally unprovoked”

attack on 40-year-old Julian Parry from Newport.

Mr Parry had been out in the city centre with friends watching the Heineken Cup rugby quarter- finals on TV on April 8.

The court heard the group eventually moved to the Bird Cage nightclub, on Market Street, where Shaun Ryan was out with his girlfriend. Cardiff Crown Court heard how as Mr Parry went to the bar in the packed club, Ryan’s girlfriend alleged Mr Parry groped her.

The court was then shown CCTV footage of the incident which showed Ryan returning from off the screen to land a succession of punches on the unsuspecting Mr Parry, the second of which had so much force it sent the dad of one staggering backwards into other revellers.

The attack left Mr Parry requiring around 20 stitches on both the inside and outside of his mouth and has left him with a prominent jagged scar above his lip, the court heard.

Ryan, who has previous convictions for affray and assault, was arrested at the scene in the early hours of April 9 and told police “He grabbed my girlfriend. Yeah I hit him, who wouldn’t?”

But the judge said: “Mr Parry was simply at the bar trying to buy a drink. Your girlfriend said he had touched her and you didn’t think twice and attacked him.

It was a totally unprovoked attack.

“Mr Parry suffered a very serious injury and deep shock and he did not deserve any of that.”

The judge jailed Ryan for eight months saying he would have to serve at least four months of that.