A BRIDEGROOM who kicked a racegoer in the face during his city centre stag do has been jailed.

Dean Oxley and Kyle Albert Raeburn Taylor were in separate groups that spent the day in York drinking, said Michael Smith, prosecuting.

At 10.30pm on Ouse Bridge the stag party and a group that had been to the last race meeting of last year at York's Knavesmire fought in a melee that spilled off the pavement into the road.

Racegoer Taylor, whose party had set off from Tyneside at 8am on October 14 and had been drinking all day, started the violence by beckoning members of the stag do on and punching Oxley’s brother, York Crown Court heard.

Bridegroom Oxley, from Middlesbrough, whose companion had been thrown out of a pub shortly before, punched Taylor to the ground and as the racegoer tried to get up, kicked him in the face, said Mr Smith.

Taylor, 24, of Copley Avenue, South Shields, fell back on the ground where Oxley punched him.

Judge Paul Worsley QC sent both men to prison for the night while he decided on their sentence.

On their return, he told them: “This court will do what it can to ensure members of the public can walk safely in the centre of York at night.

“Those who admit or are convicted of fighting face prison sentences.”

He told Oxley of the kick: “It was a frightening incident, it was a violent incident in the face of pedestrians going about their business at night.”

Oxley, 22, of Chesterfield Drive, was jailed for 12 months. He had previous convictions for violence.

Taylor was given a nine-month prison sentence, suspended for two years on condition he did 200 hours’ unpaid work. He must also pay a £2,500 fine.

Both men admitted affray.

For Oxley, John Nixon said the stag do had been shortly before the wedding and he had probably been the least intoxicated of his group.

When Taylor had punched his brother “redness then descended”.

Normally Oxley was a hardworking family man.

The court heard Taylor had behaved out of character.