A BOXING club coach broke a man's jaw during a row after a night out, a court heard.

John Jeffrey Saunders, a trained boxer and coach, was sentenced yesterday to the maximum term of 240 hours community punishment and ordered to pay his victim £1,000 compensation.

Durham Crown Court was told the damage was inflicted with a single blow after Saunders and friends left a taxi in Fishburn last May, after travelling from Hardwick Hall Hotel, in Sedgefield, where they had been drinking.

Chris Baker, prosecuting, said there was an argument with a couple over issues including who was paying the fare.

A confrontation developed between Saunders and the wife of the victim, who was struck when he intervened.

Mr Baker said the force of the blow knocked the man to the ground and broke his jaw.

Dan Cordey, in mitigation, said: "It was only one punch, albeit he accepts the injuries were serious."

Mr Cordey described Saunders, a coach with the South Durham Amateur Boxing Club, as a hard-working family man, married with four children. He said Saunders ran a white line painting business.

Saunders, 41, of The Lane, Sedgefield, admitted a single charge of wounding.

Sentencing him, Judge Guy Whitburn said it was, "a matter of concern" that Saunders was head coach of a boxing club.

"The whole purpose is to teach restraint, control and fitness," said the judge.

He warned Saunders he would face an 18-month prison sentence if he came back before the court for breaching the order.