THE violent confrontation outside a pub left the victim with a bleed on the brain after he was knocked unconscious when his assailant threw a devastating ‘haymaker’.

Liam Lister and his friends were involved in a dispute with his victim inside the John Walker Tavern before it spilled out into the street.

The teenager squared up to his victim before the confrontation exploded into violence in March last year.

Teesside Crown Court heard how ‘burly’ Lister and his victim exchanged blows before he delivered the knockout punch leaving the man prone on the pavement.

CCTV footage of the incident was shown to Judge Jonathan Carroll who described the defendant as a ‘big lad’ who knocked the victim unconscious.

The court heard how staff from the pub were able to identify Lister from CCTV inside the venue after the man had been put into the recovery position before attending hospital for treatment to the bleed on his brain.

In a victim impact statement, the man said he had been unable to return to work in London following the attack and was still suffering from headaches a year after the assault.

The man spent almost two weeks recovering from the injury he sustained and the court heard how he didn't require brain surgery.

Lister, of Radlett Avenue, Stockton, pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm following the attack in Stockton town centre last March.

Lewis Kerr, in mitigation, said his client understood the serious nature of the charge and potential consequences.

"This was a serious offence and caused serious harm – he knows that," he said. "The defendant will not behave in this way again. He is a low risk of causing harm again."

Judge Jonathan Carroll sentenced Lister to 12 months in custody suspended for two years. He said: "During the course of that evening, something was said or done that changed the atmosphere, I'm not going into the details of that to work out where fault lay, but it is clear that on that occasion you were not able to walk away and put it behind you.

"You walked out into the street and on the CCTV there was clearly an ongoing argument and then there was an exchange of blows, again the precise trigger for that, I cannot and do not say.

"There was an exchange of blows between you both, it was not the longest street fight that I have seen and it is not the shortest either, and it was vicious.

"It was an exchange of blows from both of you intended to cause some sort of harm.

"You are a physically big lad and it is pretty clear from that last punch that you delivered, that you are able to get some force behind that punch because your last punch was a haymaker – you knocked him from his feet and knocked him unconscious.

Lister was also ordered to perform 150 hours of unpaid work and pay his victim £1,000 in compensation.