A NEWPORT man was jailed today for squirting a poisonous liquid into the eyes of three men in what the judge described as a "nasty and vicious" attack.

Perrie Dunwell, 22, of Wolseley Street, Pill, pleaded guilty to three counts of administering a poison or noxious substance with intent.

Prosecuting, Jonathan Rees told Newport Crown Court Dunwell went to TJ's nightclub with his friend Cordell Roberts on August 28, 2008.

They approached John Henry and Jerome Newman and started arguing with Mr Newman's brother.

Mr Rees said nightclub owner John Sicolo saw Dunwell take a sports bottle from his pocket and aim it at the group, spraying the contents of the bottle into Jerome Newman's face, hitting his left eye.

Mr Henry went to help and Dunwell sprayed him and Mr Sicolo, who tried to intervene.

The three men experienced a burning sensation and Mr Sicolo described the smell as similar to oven-cleaner.

Mr Newman and Mr Henry reported the incident to a police officer in the street.

The liquid damaged Mr Newman's conjunctiva, the membrane covering the white of the eye, and he lost 90 percent of his cornea.

He had to undergo an operation to repair part of the membrane of his eye.

Mr Henry also suffered cornea and conjunctiva damage.

Mr Sicolo, who immediately washed his eyes with water, experienced redness and burning, but suffered no permanent damage.

Dunwell told police he saw the bottle on the bar and picked it up so it couldn't be used as a weapon by anyone else.

He said he saw Mr Newman's brother pull something like a knife from his pocket and squirted the liquid instinctively. He threw the bottle in the river Usk.

Stephen Jeary, defending, said Dunwell accepted blame and said it must have been very worrying and painful for the victims.

Judge David Morris said he accepted Dunwell did not take the bottle into the nightclub and said he accepted he used the unknown substance because he felt threatened, but overreacted.

Judge Morris said: "It was a nasty and vicious thing you did, which led to one man having an eye graft operation."

Dunwell was sentenced to 18 months for the first two victim's attacks and 20 months for Mr Sicolos, to run concurrently.

Mr Sicolo was unavailable for comment.