A FITNESS instructor has narrowly avoided an immediate prison sentence after he attacked a man in Huddersfield town centre leaving him with four fractures to his face.

Curtis Cochrane’s victim was off work for three weeks and could eat only soft food for nearly a month, following the early-hours assault at a taxi rank on Cross Church Street in January.

Bradford Crown Court heard yesterday that Cochrane, 27, who is also involved in martial arts, punched 26-year-old Richard Longbottom on the left cheekbone causing him “instant pain”.

“Mr Longbottom described his face going numb and he felt dizzy”, said prosecutor Alisha Kaye.

“He said it all seemed to be a blur and he was taken to Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield.”

Mr Longbottom had suffered three fractures to his left cheekbone and one to his right.

Cochrane, of St Peter’s Avenue, Sowerby Bridge, was identified from CCTV after being recognised by a police community support officer.

The complainant said in his victim impact statement that he had gone into shock as a result of the attack and described being distressed and shaking in hospital.