by Keith Hunt

A bank worker who made a "shameful and cowardly" attack on a woman in the street at night has avoided a jail sentence.

Kerry Smith was knocked unconscious as she hit her head on the pavement in Maidstone town centre after being punched by Jack Davies. He then kicked her "like a football".

A judge who heard glowing testimonials for the 22-year-old LloydsTSB employee asked: "What on earth were you thinking..?"

Judge Philip Statman continued: "Too many young men feel they can go out on the streets at night, get themselves drunk and assault decent members of the community.

"In this case, the victim is a woman - shameful and cowardly. It is one thing to hit a woman in the face. That is appalling in itself. It is another to kick someone on the ground. It is utterly intolerable."

But the judge suspended a sentence of 10 months imprisonment for two years.

Davies, of South Avenue, Gillingham, was also ordered to complete 250 hours unpaid work and pay the victim £1,200 compensation. He will be under a tagged curfew from 7pm to 6am for five months.

Judge Statman had said at an earlier hearing when Davies admitted assault causing actual bodily harm: "If you hit someone in a public place, and it is a woman in the street at night, then you jolly well go to prison for it."

Maidstone Crown Court heard Miss Smith, 34, was out with work colleagues in the early hours of November 27 last year when she encountered Davies outside Atila's kebab shop.

CCTV of the incident in a crowded street showed that the victim might have knocked Davies's food out of his hands.

"But thereafter, you punched her in the face," said the judge. "She fell to the floor and hit her head. She was rendered unconscious for at least four minutes, possibly for up to 20 minutes."

Miss Smith escaped serious injury but she was now frightened to go out at night.

The judge told Davies: "There is undoubtedly another side to your personality. You are well-educated, you have an excellent job with Lloyds Bank."

He also had an important role in helping his mother care for his disabled brother.