A NEWPORT man who could have been killed by a single punch is angry his attacker remained out of prison.

Stephen Connors, who is 54 and from Bassaleg, was hit by his brother-in-law Paul McCook outside the Crosskeys pub on Market Street on December 19, 2015.

At Cardiff Crown Court on Thursday, McCook, of Jenkins Street, was given a 12-month suspended sentence for a count of inflicting grievous bodily harm on Mr Connors.

Mr Connors was knocked unconscious in the attack and spent four days in hospital. He suffered bleeding to the brain and a fractured skull.

A construction manager with a Newport firm, he hopes to return to work on Monday after a long spell off because of the extensive injuries he sustained.

He added: “The CCTV shows my phone down at my waist and him running and absolutely smashing me. My head hits the wall.

“I still have problems getting words out and I struggle getting to a neurologist."

On McCook receiving a suspended prison sentence and avoiding jail, Mr Connors added: “I think it is atrocious."

He told the Argus: "What have you got to do to someone to go to prison?

“I don’t want to see anybody in prison but when you do something like that you have got to be culpable for your actions.”

Defending McCook in court, Ruth Smith said he had admitted punching Mr Connors was wrong but that he had been upset with something that he had said about his critically ill mother.

But Mr Connors denies ever saying anything about McCook’s relatives.

Ms Smith said: "He accepts he struck him and reacted in a way he shouldn't have done. He bitterly regrets that."

McCook has previously been convicted in 1987 for assault occasioning actual bodily harm with an offensive weapon and battery in 2009.

Judge Neil Bidder QC, who sentenced McCook on Thursday, told him: "It was a very serious injury - he could have died. It could have been a one punch manslaughter charge."

He added: "I understand he is now recovered but I don't know to the full extent of that but is clear it was a very serious injury."