REPEAT offender Khalid Chergui has been jailed for three-and-three-quarter years for a string of drunken assaults in Chippenham town centre.

The 23-year-old, who was on bail for a string of offences including GBH, left one man with a broken jaw and two others nursing injuries following the bout of violence.

Ian Fenny, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court that Chergui had been drinking with a group of young men at the Rose and Crown in the Market Place, Chippenham, on January 17.

Carl Rees, one of his victims, had been sitting with another group of young men when they were approached by a member of Chergui's group and asked if they wanted to buy drugs.

Mr Fenny said that they turned down the offer, but Chergui then broke away and punched Mr Rees in the jaw, fracturing it.

The second victim of the night, Russell Saye, said that Chergui tried to pick a fight with him and punched him in the face, breaking his nose.

Mr Fenny told the court that further down the road, Chergui approached Lee Birch and punched him twice in the face.

This constituted common assault, as there were no discernable injuries.

At the time, Mr Fenny said Chergui was on bail for a string of offences, the first set of which took place in July last year when he was caught stealing from Superdrug in Trowbridge.

In the following weeks he used a credit card stolen in a previous burglary at three shops.

As a consequence of being arrested for those incidents, police searched his home and found cannabis and amphetamines.

He was on bail when he assaulted Dean Garrett in Trowbridge three weeks before Christmas. Chergui struck him with a snooker cue and punched him in the face. The victim suffered a broken jaw as a result.

Chergui was again released on bail but went on to commit his latest set of assaults in Chippenham on January 17.

Chergui, of Longfield Road, Trowbridge, pleaded guilty to theft, handling the stolen card, three deceptions and two counts of possession of drugs.

He also admitted to two counts of grievous bodily harm on separate dates and an actual bodily harm and common assault from January 17.

Chergui had previously been jailed for 18 months in October 2001 for actual bodily harm.

Jonathon Dunn, defending, said that his client accepted that he had an alcohol problem which needed to be addressed. But the pre-sentence report described Chergui as a prolific offender.

Jailing Chergui, Judge Tom Longbotham said: "People should be allowed to go around the streets without being subjected to gratuitous violence resulting in such injuries that they need general anaesthetic operations, or any violence at all. You just drink far too much."