The victim of a violent attack inside a Wisbech nightclub was left with “significant and permanent” injuries following the “totally unprovoked” incident.

The attacker, Mark Crosby, 27, also known as Mark Fisher, was in the H20 nightclub in Chapel Road, Wisbech, just after midnight on October 5 2019

A court heard how Crosby “noticed another man at the bar looking at him”.

He walked up to the man and smashed a small spirit glass in the side of his face before also punching him to the head.

He fled the area and an ambulance was called, but the victim made his own way to hospital.

The attack was thought to have followed a feud in 2017 for which no criminal charges were brought.

Crosby, of Small Lode, Upwell near Wisbech, was arrested on suspicion of assault occasioning grievous bodily harm (GBH) with intent.

In interview, he answered “no comment” to all questions but later pleaded guilty and was sentenced at Peterborough Crown Court on Wednesday (April 13).

He was handed a total of four years in prison.

Sentencing, Judge Matthew Lowe said there had been a “degree of animosity” between Crosby and the girlfriend of the man he attacked, arising from “his relationship with the travelling community”.

He said he believed the meeting between the two men to have been coincidental but added the attack was a “totally unprovoked act of cowardice” and carried out “gratuitously” on a defenceless victim.

Judge Lowe also highlighted Crosby’s victim had been left with “significant and permanent” injuries, which include scarring to his face “causing embarrassment, blurring of vision and watery eyes”.

Det Sgt Darryl Purdy, who investigated, said: “Using a glass as a weapon, Crosby launched a completely unprovoked attack on another man who has been left with permanent scarring.

“Violence like this is completely unacceptable and we will do all we can to bring offenders who commit this type of crime to justice.”