A former junior boxer carried out a vicious unprovoked street attack, a court has heard.

Drunken Daniel Gill, 20, delivered a flurry of punches to Scott Parkins when the pair met in the Wigton Road area of Carlisle on December 20 at the end of a night out.

Having pleaded guilty to a charge of unlawful wounding, Gill was sentenced by Recorder Mark Ainsworth.

The court heard that Mr Parkins was walking home at around 7am when he encountered Gill who, he said, “squared up” to him.

Having been struck twice in the face, Mr Parkins fell to the ground and then felt at least three more powerful blows to his back and side of his head as he tried desperately to cover his face.

Mr Parkins was left with a number of injuries which included a perforated ear drum and a gash under one of his eyes which needed stitches and has left a scar.

In a victim impact statement, Mr Parkins described how the attack had ruined his Christmas and left him anxious about walking home.

Although Gill made no comment in a subsequent police interview, he later pleaded guilty to the attack. He admitted to being drunk at the time, conceding he was six or seven on a scale of one to 10.

The court heard he had trained as a boxer for several years in his teens. He was said to have stopped at the age of 17 but had won trophies.

Gill claimed his assault on Mr Parkins followed an incident in the city two months earlier but accepted he had not felt threatened by his victim on the day of the attack.

Gill, a man of previous good character, said in court of the attack: “I do apologise for that. I do. It was a mistake.”

His lawyer Paul Tweddle said Gill accepted responsibility for his victim’s injuries.

Recorder Ainsworth imposed a 12-month term of detention in a young offenders’ institution which was suspended for two years.

Gill, of Mardale Road, Raffles must complete 200 hours’ unpaid work, a three-month night-time curfew and a 20-day rehabilitation requirement.