Man broke jaw with single punch

AN Ipswich teenager has narrowly avoided a jail sentence after breaking a youth's jaw with a single punch.

Daniel Parnell, 19, of Thackeray Road had pleaded guilty to a charge of assault causing grievous bodily harm at a previous hearing.

Recorder Gerard Pounder sentenced him to four months' detention in a young offenders' institution but suspended the sentence for 12 months.

Parnell was also ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work in the community and ordered to pay his victim £500 in compensation.

Peter Gair, prosecuting, said Parnell had been part of a group of youngsters near his former school in May when the atmosphere had been unpleasant.

At one stage he had turned around and hit a 17-year-old in the face so hard that his jaw was broken.

Since then the youth had suffered several months of pain and had missed part of a training course. He had needed specialist treatment to re-set the jaw.

Parnell had a previous conviction for a similar offence back in 2004 when he was a 16-year-old juvenile, he added.

Mr Gair said Parnell had made a full admission about the offence during the second of two police interviews that were carried out shortly after the offence, and had pleaded guilty at the earliest possible point in the court process.

Jane Oldfield, for Parnell, said her client accepted he had behaved badly in hitting the youth and was genuinely sorry about the offence.

He was working two days a week as a building labourer to help fund a three-day a week course at New Suffolk College.

She said he would lose his place on the course if he was given a custodial sentence and would not be able to take advantage of a government scheme for young learners.

She added he is a public spirited youth and would work hard to ensure there was no such repeat of this violent behaviour.

Parnell appeared in The Evening Star earlier in the year when he and some friends helped rescue a couple whose car had come off the A14 after a brick was thrown from the Asda bridge.