Richard Brampton smashed a glass into the face of Dean Walker who had been upsetting people at a wedding reception

Richard Brampton smashed the glass into the face of Dean Walker who had been upsetting people at a wedding reception at the Grosvenor Hotel in Stratford in June last year.

Mr Brampton was found by the police with cuts to his own hand from the attack.

But he claimed the cuts were a result of him putting his hand up to protect himself when Mr Walker had swung at him with a glass.

His version of events during the wedding reception was rejected by a jury at Warwick Crown Court who found him guilty of unlawful wounding.

After the jury returned its verdict, Brampton 35 of Edgeworth Close in Redditch, who had denied the charge, was granted bail while a pre-sentence report is prepared on him.

Prosecutor Lynette McClement said: It began as a very pleasant day. They had a lunch, and after that people began drinking, and some people drank to excess.

“One of those who drank to excess was Mr Walker, and he is, it seems, not a pleasant drunk.

"He made inappropriate comments – but no-one comes out of this smelling of roses.”

At around 7.30pm that evening the staff at the hotel decided not to serve Mr Walker any more alcohol.

Later that night staff approached him and asked him to leave.

Miss McClement added: “Mr Walker was very, very drunk, and did not like being asked to leave. He began to lash out when people tried to take hold of him, and the staff member was struck to the face. It was all rather unpleasant."

Mr Walker was being restrained against the door of the disabled toilet when someone with dark brown hair and a goatee beard stepped forward and hit Mr Walker with full force with a pint glass.

“That glass smashed, and the police found bits of it embedded in the disabled loo door. That shows how much force was used,” said Miss McClement.

The attacker turned and walked away, and when the police arrived they found Brampton, whose hands were covered in blood, walking down the road with his girlfriend.

He was asked if he had been involved in a fight, and replied: “Yes, he was annoying people, so I hit him."

When he was first interviewed following his arrest, Brampton answered ‘no comment’ but in a prepared statement he said he and his partner were about to leave when he saw a man he knew as Dean staggering towards him with a glass in his hand.

“He took a swing at me. I put my hand up to protect my face, and sustained cuts to my hand," he said.

But Miss McClement told the jury: “We say the cuts to his hand are a result of him smashing a glass into another man’s face. Regardless of his behaviour, he didn’t deserve to have his face cut with a glass.”