Attacker is jailed for two years.

INCREASING numbers of boys from good backgrounds are ending up in the dock after drunken moments of madness, a judge has said.

South Wales judge Eleri Rees was speaking as she jailed a 22-year-old who admitted hitting someone over the head with a chair after an incident in a nightclub.

She told Cardiff Crown Court: "It is sad that all too frequently we see young men of otherwise impeccable character and with supportive families behind them - who in drink and sometimes under the influence of drugs - at night and in a moment of madness - cause serious injury and lose their good character and their liberty." Matthew Stokes, of Clive Road, Barry, was given glowing references from people who all said they were stunned to hear he was in trouble.

CCTV cameras showed he had been the one struck first after a night at Finnigan's club in the seaside town. A door supervisor stepped in and the man who had hit him was going to be ejected.

But Judge Rees told Stokes: "Although he was being evicted and you were bundled from the room by your friends, you had to return - carrying a chair. You struck him, causing a serious injury which will leave him scarred.

"I know you are truly remorseful and you have never been in a court before but the shortest possible sentence I can pass is one of two years."

Defence barrister Carl Harrison said Stokes, who admitted the assault, had caused great distress to his family, who had never had anything to do with the police before.