A businessman who attacked a bouncer with a bottle at a nightclub has walked free.

Ian Johnson was ordered to do 150 hours unpaid work and pay his victim, Kevin Raux, £1,000 compensation within 28 days.

Maidstone Crown Court heard 38-year-old Johnson was at Jumping Jaks in Lockmeadow, Maidstone, on March 11, 2007 when a fracas developed.

Richard Scott, prosecuting, said Mr Raux was trying to calm the situation when Johnson hit him with the bottle.

Mr Scott said another bouncer saw Johnson lash out but thought he was trying to hit a man being restrained.

Johnson admitted assault causing actual bodily harm on the basis he was acting in self-defence but was over-zealous in doing so.

The victim was left with a bruised forehead and an injury above his right eye.

Oliver Saxby, defending, said it was an unusual case. Witnesses believed the doorman had been a little heavy-handed.

Johnson was drinking from the bottle when he struck out.

“It was more an act of recklessness,” said Mr Saxby. “He acted instinctively because he saw his friend was being roughly treated.”

Johnson, he said, was honest and hard-working. He had been punished by having an “ugly” conviction on his record.

“And quite right,” said Mr Saxby. “He is ashamed of what he did. He is devoid of any self-pity. Drink led him into this situation.”

Judge James O’Mahony questioned whether Johnson, of Greystones Road, Ramsgate, should have faced a more serious charge of grievous bodily harm.

“Taking a bottle to someone’s head in my book means immediate custody,” he said. “Bouncers, despite the strength associated with their job, are entitled to some respect and protection by the courts.

“You behaved like a drunken thug. Having said that, it seems to me this case is particular and falls into a different category.”

He told Johnson: “You were in drink and it may be you have focused your ideas on that .

“I take the course suggested in the pre-sentence report, not, I emphasise, because you are a businessman and employ people but because I think it is a just and proper way of dealing with this case.”