A FORMER solider smashed his pal in the face after being teased about being unable to take his drink.

James Entwhistle, who served in the Army in Afghanistan, punched his friend so hard that it fractured his cheekbone and eye socket.

Bricklayer Lewis Jackson needed surgery to repair the damage but at Bolton Crown Court 23-year-old Entwhistle was spared an immediate jail sentence after the judge heard about his previous good character.

Jane Dagnall, prosecuting, told how Entwhistle and Mr Jackson had been friends for years and on August 27 last year they, along with other friends, went to Bolton town centre to celebrate it being a bank holiday. Miss Dagnall said that at the end of the evening Entwhistle and Mr Jackson went to get some food while waiting for a taxi.

But outside the Food Factory, on Bradshawgate Mr Jackson commented that his friend was drunk.

"He made the unfortunate observation that the defendant couldn't hold his drink," said Miss Dagnall.

"The defendant just flipped."

Entwhistle grabbed his friend around the neck before punching him three times in the face.

Mr Jackson later told police: "I felt what seemed like the bone inside my face move."

He went home but the next day, after suffering a headache, swollen face and being unable to see out of his right eye, he went to hospital, where x-rays and scans revealed a displaced fracture of his cheekbone and a fractured eye socket.

He has since made a good physical recovery but in a statement read out in court said: "It was a shock that someone I have known all my life has done such a thing and caused such injuries."

Entwhistle, from Farnworth, pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm.

Nicholas Ross, defending, stressed that Entwhistle has no previous convictions and handed the Honorary Recorder of Bolton, Judge Timothy Clayson, positive character references, including one from the Army.

Sentencing Entwhistle to 14 months in prison, suspended for 18 months, Judge Clayson said: "One who has served the country in Afghanistan speaks strongly in favour of an individual."

But he added: "This was a nasty incident in which, when drunk, through nothing really, you ended up assaulting and badly injuring someone who was your friend. I am sure you wouldn't have hit him at all if you weren't drunk."

Entwhistle will be subject to a 9pm to 5.30am curfew until the end of June, must participate in 20 days of rehabilitation activities and was ordered to pay his victim £1,500 compensation.

"You have been fortunate not to have been sent immediately to prison today," the judge told him.