A semi-professional footballer who plays for Torpoint and was wanted by Liskeard, 20-year-old Benjamin Waters, was sent to a young offenders' institution for nine months at Truro Crown Court on Friday. 'You perpetrated a vicious and unprovoked attack upon a young man walking in the street with his girlfriend,' said Judge Nicholas Vincent. 'It was fuelled by alcohol and cocaine. I am less interested in imposing a constructive sentence for your future than one that will punish you.' When Gavin Brannon and his girlfriend heard Waters shouting and being abusive they crossed to the other side of the road and continued on their way, said prosecutor Ron Ede. Waters, who was clearly drunk, shouted: 'Do you want a fight?', walked over and punched him on the nose, breaking it. Defending Waters, Paul Rowsell said that while he thoroughly deserved a custodial sentence, it would be better for the public if he was given the community order proposed by a probation officer. He was a 'fairly likeable' young man except when under the influence of drink and drugs, when he became a menace. He had voluntarily cut his intake of alcohol. Mr Rowsell said: 'He is a very promising semi-professional who plays for Torpoint and has been offered £50 a match by Liskeard, and his girlfriend is not blind to his faults. 'One more transgression and he loses her and his accommodation with her parents. He has had a taste of custody and the good sense to plead guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and for the first time he really wants to deal with his problems.'
