A BURLY pub customer was jailed after he over-reacted to a joke written on a scrap of paper and punched the writer so violently in the back of the head that doctors said it could have been fatal.

Kenneth Miller, 33, from Fleet, had been drinking in the Queen's Head pub in The Borough, Farnham, from 11am on June 25 before the "serious attack" took place more than three hours later.

At Guildford Crown Court last Friday (September 24), prosecutor Rachael Monaghan said: "The victim, Mr Dan Hall, had arrived at about 2pm with his girlfriend to have lunch.

"He was eating a plate of chilli nachos and had drunk about three pints when his girlfriend noticed Miller making kissing faces at her.

"At one stage, Mr Hall went to the toilet and Miller went over to the girlfriend.

"He passed her a note which had his name and mobile phone number on it.

"When Mr Hall got back from the gents his girlfriend showed him the note and he started laughing before scribbling at the top of the note the words ‘For gay sex call...’. He then pinned the note up near the bar."

The court was told that Miller, having seen the note, waited for Mr Hall to go back to the bar and then punched him with what the judge called "immense force" in the back of the head.

The victim was knocked unconscious and was violently sick when he came round.

He had a large cut to the back of the head and was taken to Frimley Park hospital shortly after the incident, where a CAT scan revealed that he had a subarachnoid haemorrhage - potentially fatal bleeding in the space between his brain and skull.

Mr Hall also had a fracture of his occipital bone to the base of his skull.

Provoked

The court heard the victim had since made a full recovery apart from still having a bump at the back of his head.

Miller, of Kenilworth Road, Fleet, was arrested at the scene after police were called by the pub's manager.

The hearing was told that the defendant had a history of violent behaviour going back to 1999 when he attacked a taxi driver with a baton in Aldershot.

On that occasion he was charged with causing grievous bodily harm with intent and jailed for 14 months.

In mitigation, Kate Chidgey said: "My client was provoked into this attack.

"He has no problems with drink or drugs but had been drinking at the time of this incident.

"His last violent offence was more than 10 years ago."

Jailing him for 12 months on one count of unlawful wounding, Judge Neil Stewart, said: "There are many people in prisons today serving long sentences for manslaughter for incidents just like this.

"Punching people in the head can easily lead to death, whether you intended it to or not.

"You over-reacted and your response was disproportionate and was carried out in a cold-blooded manner."

Miller will have to serve half of his 12-month prison sentence before being considered for release.