AN OBNOXIOUS thug bottled an amateur boxer in the face after shouting abuse at his girlfriend.

Joseph Smith squared up to Richard Brown at Brighton Railway Station.

He struck Mr Brown three times with a vodka bottle, leaving the boxer with face fractures.

In a separate attack, Smith broke Kevin Mason’s jaw with a single punch outside the Quench bar in Burgess Hill.

Mr Mason had intervened to get him out of the bar during a fracas.

“I’m going to get my people down here and burn down the bar, you are all dead,” Smith shouted.

After the incident the 23-year-old, with 22 previous convictions, took to social media to taunt the police that they would not find him.

But they did, and at Lewes Crown Court he admitted inflicting grievous bodily harm and grievous bodily harm with intent.

Judge Christine Laing QC jailed Smith for seven years and told him he posed a threat of serious harm to the public.

Paul Fairley, prosecuting, said the first incident at Quench Bar happened in March 2018, when Smith was in a “struggle” with a man named Daniel Smith.

Mr Mason helped stopped the uproar and led Smith outside, but Smith punched him in the face, knocking him to the ground.

The blow broke Mr Mason’s jaw, and he needed surgery.

Then in August 2018, Mr Brown was out with his girlfriend in Brighton to celebrate his birthday and was walking back to the station.

He heard Smith and a pal abusing and swearing at people in the street.

Smith made suggestive comments about Mr Brown’s partner, and inside the station the two squared up.

But Smith lashed out with the vodka bottle in his hand, striking Mr Brown three times.

The boxer had broken bones around his eyebrows and nose, and has since been unable to return to the boxing ring.

Jordan Franks, defending, said Smith was under the influence of alcohol in both incidents and had overreacted.

He described the incidents as “short burst of violence” rather than being prolonged and gratuitous.

Mr Franks said Smith, of no fixed address, is illiterate, and is diagnosed with ADHD and Asperger’s syndrome, which affects his ability to think about the consequences of his actions.

Judge Laing QC said that while Smith can behave well, he has a different side when he drinks.

She said: “You stepped back and punched Mr Mason with such severity that he needed surgery.

“All the time you were pretending to be the big man who would get your people down there and burn down the bar.

“You are unable to control your temper.

“A few months later, when you were still under investigation, you and your friends’ behaviour was obnoxious and abusive.

“You shouted offensive remarks to Mr Brown’s girlfriend. When he told you where to go, your response was to strike him to the head more than once with a bottle.

“It seems to me that you have little insight into your behaviour, and you have shown no real remorse.”