A Nairn man who had committed four previous violent assaults was jailed for two years after scarring a Fife holidaymaker for life with a single punch.
Inverness Sheriff Court heard that Stuart Lyon, 29, was left lying in a pool of blood on Bailey Bridge in Nairn after the unprovoked attack on October 31 last year.
He now has a scar under his right eye as a result of the assault by 24-year-old Christopher McCann of the town’s Stewart Street, a jury heard.
But a broken watch strap helped convict McCann of his fifth assault in the last eight years, two of them resulting in a serious injury.
A loop had fallen from the time on to the bridge and the DNA on it matched McCann.
He had also ran away when police approached him because he fitted the description of the assailant, given by Mr Lyon.
McCann denied assault to permanent disfigurement but was unanimously convicted by the jury after only 25 minutes.
Earlier, they had heard that Mr Lyon was walking back to his accommodation after a night out when he was the victim of the unprovoked assault.
He told the jury that he had arrived that day at Nairn Caravan site and had gone for 8 to 10 vodkas with friends.
He said he was walking back from the entertainment centre when the attack happened.
“I was alone and passed a group of people on the Bailey Bridge. Something was said and I turned round. I was punched on the face and fell to the ground.”
He said he sustained a cut to his head which was sealed shut at Raigmore Hospital, leaving a scar.
Defence lawyer Duncan Henderson put it to Mr Lyon that he was drunk, had fallen and that had caused the head injury.
Mr Lyon replied: “No.”
After his client was found guilty, Mr Henderson told Sheriff Margaret Neilson: “He is now in a settled relationship, has a four-month-old son and has stayed out of trouble for a year.”
Jailing McCann for two years, the Sheriff said: “You have an appalling record of crimes of violence and you have already served a sentence in 2014 of two years for assault to injury and permanent impairment.”
