TWO men who carried out a "vicious attack" outside a Caldicot pub which left their victim needing reconstructive surgery on his face avoided a prison sentence yesterday.

Simon Finney, aged 22, from Longcroft Road, Caldicot, and Anthony Ryder, aged 22, from Beech Close, Llanmartin, Newport, pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm to 34-year-old Robert Wayman, (pictured) from Park Road, Caldicot.

The attack took place outside the town's Chaplin's Taverna on November 4. Mr Wayman suffered severe facial injuries in the attack and had to undergo emergency treatment at Newport's Royal Gwent Hospital.

Steven Donoghue, prosecuting, told Newport crown court that the two defendants had been drinking with a group of friends in the pub on the evening in question.

He said that Mr Wayman had approached two women in a vehicle outside the pub and was "making a nuisance of himself", and closed one of the doors of the car against Finney.

A fight had then broken out between Finney and Mr Wayman, the court heard. Mr Donoghue said that Finney managed to get on top of his victim and "punched him at least eight times in the face".

The prosecutor told the court that Ryder had then intervened and kicked Mr Wayman in the head "as he was helpless and motionless on the floor, covered in blood". He said that Nicholas Pembry, the landlord of Chaplin's Taverna, had watched the attack from the pub window and described it as "shocking".

Ryder also pleaded guilty to butting a friend of Mr Wayman, Stephen Young, on the nose, as he tried to call the police.

David Webster, defending Ryder, who is a seasonal oil industry worker in Scan-dinavia and Scotland, said that although the attack was "vicious" his client was a responsible man.

He said: "It would be an utter tragedy if he were to lose his liberty for a moment's madness".

Defending Finney, Peter Haywood said that his client had felt "shame, revulsion and remorse for the attack".

However, Mr Haywood said that Finney had been "confronted by Mr Wayman who was drunk, acting in a brusque manner, who closed a car door on his leg".

Judge Christopher Llewellyn-Jones, QC, said: "I accept there was a degree of provocation towards you, Finney."

He said that because of "very exceptional circumstances" he had decided against sending them to prison.

Both men were sentenced to a 200-hour community punishment order, and Ryder was given an 80-hour sentence to run concurrently for his attack on Mr Young. Both were ordered to pay £250 each in compensation to Mr Wayman.