A THUG who punched two men in separate unprovoked attacks during a drug and booze fuelled night out in Southampton has been locked up.

One of Jamal Farooq’s victims was left needing surgery on a fractured jaw after being ferociously hit in the face in the apparently random attack.

Michael Tanner told police he had been scared when Farooq and two other men approached him as he attempted to hail a taxi after a city centre night out with friends.

Without warning or any provocation, the 19-year-old punched him in the face.

Prosecutor Suki Dhadda told Southampton Crown Court: “He (Mr Tanner) was very scared by this, because there was a third male within the group who it appeared had some sort of weapon.”

The victim was knocked to the ground by Farooq’s punch, and was later told by doctors at Southampton General Hospital that he had suffered a fracture to the right side of his jaw, which would need an operation to correct.

The attack, in the early hours of August 8, came shortly after CCTV cameras had caught Farooq, of Orchard Lane, Southampton, approaching and punching an unknown victim in another apparently unprovoked attack.

After his arrest, Farooq refused to answer most police questions, but told them he had been drinking and had taken cocaine during the evening, which he had spent mostly at Sam’s Bar and Restaurant in East Street.

He said he had been pushed from behind while in the toilets, and had his mobile phone stolen.

Ms Dhadda said: “But he wouldn’t explain how, if at all, that incident was linked to the offences outside.”

Judge Peter Ralls heard Farooq, who admitted separate charges of causing grievous bodily harm and assault, has 13 previous convictions for 22 offences, but had been “appalled” by his actions that night, and has spent his time on remand trying to begin turning his life around.

The judge jailed him for a year for the GBH offence, and two months to run concurrently for the assault.

He said: “People who go about their business in public places at night should feel safe and should not feel under threat by people who behave in a loutish and appalling way, attacking people in an unprovoked way.

“These are serious matters and the public demands that they are appropriately punished.”