A DRUNKEN asylum-seeker who smashed a broken bottle over a man's head in a Darlington nightclub has been jailed for two years.

Palastinian national Riad Said was also told by a judge that he will be recommended for deportation once he is released from prison.

Judge David Bryant imposed an extended sentence, which means Said will have to serve a further two years on licence after his release.

The judge told the 32-year-old he was being recommended for deportation because he considered him to be a detriment to the country. He also said the extended sentence was being imposed because he believed Said was a danger to the public, after hearing about his previous convictions.

Judge Bryant was told Said had been jailed in 2005 and earlier this year for harassing women and damaging their property.

Yesterday, he was sentenced after he admitted unlawfully wounding John Rogers at Flares nightclub, on September 9 last year. Mr Rogers, 47, and his wife, Tracey, had gone out to celebrate his return from abroad and ended up in the club after a night of drinking.

Peter Sabiston, prosecuting, told Teesside Crown Court that trouble started when Mr Rogers went to the bar and returned to find Said with his wife.

Mr Sabiston said Mrs Rogers jumped as if she had been startled because she thought Said had touched her bottom.

An argument between the two men started, and they tumbled from the bar through a fire exit into a yard.

During a struggle outside, Said hit Mr Rogers with a broken bottle and caused a cut forehead and multiple scratches on his scalp.

As door staff moved in to break up the fight, the attacker tried to throw away and hide a lock-knife he had in his pocket, said Mr Sabiston.

Dan Cordey, mitigating, claimed Mrs Rogers had asked Said for a cigarette while her husband was at the bar, and the fight arose from a misunderstanding.

Judge Bryant told Said: "It seems to me that there was no justification whatever for the way in which you behaved, and your use of a bottle is a serious aggravating factor. I have to consider whether you present a significant risk of serious harm to members of the public.

"Looking at the way which, in the past, you behaved with those who you had a relationship with, and looking at the way in which you behaved on this particular night to complete strangers, I am satisfied that you present a significant risk of serious harm by commission of further offences."

Said, of Oxford Street, Darlington, who also admitted possessing a bladed article on the same night, had a charge of sexual touching dropped.