FORMER Giants star Martin Aspinwall broke a friend’s jaw in a pub fight.

A court heard how he dislocated his own shoulder in the fracas and could not play for six months.

Now Aspinwall, who twice punched a friend in the face during a drunken argument, has been given a suspended jail term.

Aspinwall, 29, now plays for Castleford Tigers and made his debut in the side’s victory over his former club on Saturday.

Trouble flared between Aspinwall, who played for Great Britain in 2006, and his victim, Robert Jackson in the Walkabout Bar in Wigan after a row about Aspinwall’s agent.

Aspinwall, then playing for the Giants, was critical of his agent, by whose software company Mr Jackson was employed.

The two men, who had been friends since their childhood rugby days, had had an amicable conversation at the bar earlier that night, July 17 last year, but half an hour later when they again met at the bar Aspinwall “appeared to be aggressive” towards him, said Peter Barr, prosecuting.

“He began to criticise the agent. Mr Jackson tried to defend his employer.