A WALLASEY man kicked another man in the face because he believed he had made a disparaging remark about his wife.

Brendan Bell met the other man by chance in the early hours of the morning while waiting in Liverpool for the Tunnel bus.

After chatting it emerged the man knew Bell's wife and some of her family and made a remark about her, which upset Bell.

"The man went off and sat on the pavement in a taxi queue. Bell came over and repeatedly asked him to repeat what he had said and explain it, but he refused," said Mr. Gerald Jones, prosecuting.

Bell, a swimming pool manager, asked him to come and sort matters out, but the man again refused and tried to calm down Bell, who repeatedly threatened to kick him.

The man told him to do it or go away as he did not want to fight and Bell kicked him in the face, causing a double-displaced fracture of the jaw and a cut needing eight stitches.

"The incident took place in front of two police vans and officers promptly arrested Bell, who was struggling with his victim," said Mr Jones.

Bell, aged 29, of Woodhall Avenue, pleaded guilty at Liverpool Crown Court to causing grievous bodily harm and was jailed for nine months.

Judge Denis Clark said that in his drunken state Bell believed the other man had insulted his wife. "It would have been understandable, though unacceptable, if you had slapped or punched him in the face. But he was sitting down and you viciously assaulted him, it was a cowardly, unmanly thing to do. A shod foot is a powerful weapon."

Miss Lesley Carter, defending, urged the judge to suspend the prison sentence pointing out out he had never been in trouble before.

He had worked hard to get a good job and his wife was expecting their third child next month. He would lose his job and his family needed him physically and financially. He regretted his behaviour, which had been totally out of his character.

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