A drunken Cumbrian thug jailed for a spate of violent attacks, has been told by top judges he cannot complain about his tough sentence.

Jordan Alan Starkey beat up a bar manager, struck a fellow drinker and assaulted three women between April and August 2015.

One victim suffered a skull fracture and another was left with a chipped eye socket.

The 25-year-old, of Patterdale Close, Whitehaven, was locked up for three years and 10 months at Carlisle Crown Court in August last year.

He previously admitted affray, inflicting grievous bodily harm, three counts of assault by beating and failing to surrender to bail.

Starkey challenged his jail term at the Court of Appeal, in London, with his lawyers arguing it was "too long".

But his complaints were thrown out by three of the country's most senior judges, who said the sentence was justified.

The court heard Starkey was drinking in Whitehaven in April 2015 when he met his ex-partner and two of her friends.

They argued and he knocked her over, causing her to hit her head on the ground.

She was knocked unconscious and was left with a bump on her head and a grazed arm.

When her friends tried to help her, they were assaulted too.

The following month, Starkey was involved in a row with a man at the Richmond pub, in Hensingham, Whitehaven.

He struck him several times inside the pub and later continued the attack outside - knocking him over and causing him to hit the back of his head on the kerb.

The victim was left with a fracture to his skull as a result.

In August of the same year, Starkey launched a savage attack on a bar manager at the Sun Inn, also in Hensingham.

He punched the victim repeatedly, only stopping when he was held off by others.

An x-ray revealed the victim suffered a chip to his eye socket and he needed stitches for a cut on his face.

Starkey said he couldn't remember the last incident at all, as he drank between 12 and 15 pints beforehand.

He was on bail for the first incident when he committed the second two attacks, and later failed to turn up at court when he was supposed to.

Dismissing his appeal, Mr Justice Stuart-Smith said these incidents were worse than anything he had done before, but that he did have previous convictions and deserved a lengthy sentence.

Sitting with Lord Justice Gross and Mr Justice Spencer, he added: "Drink was a persistent and aggravating feature of this offending.

"He caused injury to his victims, including a fractured skull in the serious and violent affray."