Single punch fractured cheek

A single punch could land a Fife man in prison after it fractured his victim’s cheek, Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court has heard.

Graham Middleton, 30, swung at Stephen Gorman in Harlem Nightclub, Dunfermline. The attack on June 9 last year left Mr Gorman with a permanent scar and little to no sensation in his left gum.

Roughcaster Middleton, who has two previous convictions for assault and has been in prison before, was warned he could face a custodial sentence next month.

Middleton, of Kennedy Crescent, Dunfermline, admitted assaulting Mr Gorman under provocation, knocking him to the ground to his severe injury and permanent impairment.

The court heard Mr Gorman pushed and spat on Middleton after Mr Gorman had been asked to stop making “overtures” towards a girl in Middleton’s company.

Both men had been drinking and the following morning Mr Gorman woke to find his pillow covered in blood.

An X-ray at Queen Margaret Hospital, Dunfermline, found his left cheek was fractured and surgery was performed at Victoria Hospital, Kirkcaldy.

Sheriff Alastair Thornton deferred sentence until June 14 and warned Middleton that a custodial sentence remained “a distinct possibility”.