A man who smashed a pool cue into a customer's face during a fight in a pub has been jailed.

Gary McGeown, 32, picked up the heavy cue with two hands and swung it at Clive Bastable's head with full force.

Mr Bastable had been drinking in The Fletcher's Arms, at Angmering, near Littlehampton, with his aunt and uncle when the brawl began on the night of February 4 last year.

He was knocked out by the blow and suffered horrific facial injuries. A hole was torn in his flesh between his nose and mouth and he had to have reconstructive surgery to repair fractures to his cheek bone and broken sinuses.

The cue was snapped in half by the force of the impact.

Mr Bastable was left unable to work after the attack which caused difficulties with his removals business in Worthing.

McGeown, of Belloc Road, Littlehampton, admitted causing grievous bodily harm. He denied the more serious charge of causing grievous bodily harm with intent but was convicted by a jury after a trial at Lewes Crown Court in March.

Today he appeared at Brighton Crown Court where he was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in jail.

At the trial his friend Spencer Banham, 40, of Arundel Way, Bognor, who was alleged to have kicked Mr Bastable in the stomach during the fight, was acquitted of affray.

During the trial the court heard trouble flared after McGeown approached Mr Bastable and some form of disagreement started, although neither man could give a full account of what triggered it.