A DRUNK pubgoer high on cocaine whose single punch left a man brain-damaged was sentenced to four-and-a-half years behind bars.

Dejan Tomsic was found guilty by a second jury at St Albans Crown Court on Friday, after a retrial.

Victim Bhavesh Patel was punched outside The Town Inn in Hatfield after he tried to step in when Tomsic was arguing with his then girlfriend Stacey Farron.

Tomsic, who was born in Belgrade in what is now Serbia, but has lived in the UK for the past nine years, lashed out at Mr Patel with devastating consequences.

Mr Patel, 33, was knocked out and hit his head on the hard car park surface.

He suffered bleeding on the brain, a stroke and continues to have mental and physical disabilities.

Jurors had earlier been told by prosecutor Michael Speak that Tomsic had been high on a cocktail of alcohol, cocaine and jealousy at the time of the attack.

Judge Stephen Gullick said: “It seems clear to me had you killed this man you would have been sentenced to seven years imprisonment.

“This is a case where one blow, fuelled by alcohol, had extremely serious consequences to the man you delivered that blow to.”

Judge Gullick cut the maximum sentence of five years by six months, as through no fault of the defendant his conviction took two-and-a-half years to secure, a time the judge said was unacceptable.

The first trial against Tomsic, 32, of St Lukes Court, Hatfield, who denied the charge of GBH, failed last summer when the jury could not to agree on a verdict.

The second jury returned a majority verdict of 10-2.