A TEEN has been ordered to pay thousands of pounds in compensation after a ‘cowardly attack’ that a judge suggested ‘could have killed’ his victim.

Albie Parkinson, 18 and of Guest Avenue, in Poole, appeared before Bournemouth Crown Court on Friday, December 9 for sentencing, having previously pleaded guilty to one count of assault causing grievous bodily harm (GBH) without intent.

The victim, Aidan Leicester, and his girlfriend were outside Cameo Nightclub, in Bournemouth, on June 10 of this year when the assault occurred at around about midnight.

Mr Leicester suffered a depression of the left eye socket, a fractured cheekbone and a fractured left eye socket. The extent of the damage was such that the victim required surgery and a metal plate in his left side. 

His Honour Judge Robert Pawson said the victim's face was 'crushed'.

The court heard that the victim had been urinating by the side of a road when a car drove past. Six people are said to have got out of the car and a ‘verbal altercation’ followed. Mr Leicester said he heard someone say ‘come over here then’, or words to that effect, ‘with clenched fists’. 

In a statement he said he remembered Parkinson standing over him and then being surrounded by police officers.

Mr Leicester said his life had been changed as he was no longer able to play contact sports and was ‘struggling to come to terms’ with the assault. He added that he suffered panic attacks and struggled to be in crowded places.

CCTV footage of the assault was played to the court in which Parkinson could be seen, in a group, surrounding the victim. Parkinson repeatedly punched his victim ‘more than ten times, and until (Mr Leicester) lay unconscious’.

Ms Fagin, prosecuting, said there were ‘fourteen or fifteen punches’ in a ‘persistent assault’.

In mitigation, it was accepted that the assault was a ‘nasty attack’ but was said that Mr Leicester had ‘been drinking, urinated on a car and was obviously in a real mood’.

Mr Leicester is said to have sworn at Parkinson and accused him of being a coward.

Mrs Burns, mitigating, compared the altercation to a boxing match. Judge Pawson said ‘with respect, Mrs Burns, they would not have been anywhere near the same weight class’.

“It’s a really cowardly attack, he wasn't in a vulnerable position, he threw the first blow, and then everyone gets in their car and drives away. Not a single person in the group stops to say ‘hang on you could have killed him’, they leave him lying where (Parkinson) left him.

"I struggle with (Parkinson's) remorse: he pleaded guilty but he didn't hand himself into the police, they had to investigate."

Parkinson was given an 18-month detention order, suspended for 18 months, ordered to carry out 120 hours of unpaid work, made subject to a curfew and instructed to pay £7,200 in compensation to his victim at a rate of £600 a month.