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A MAN was the victim of an attack in Hereford city centre which left him with a broken nose.

He was assaulted in Commercial Street on July 2 last year, and his attacker has now appeared in court charged with assault by beating.

The man was trying to get a taxi when Jordan Carss confronted him by shouting, before pushing him and punching him in the face.

The victim ended up in Hereford's accident and emergency department with a swollen, broken nose.

Despite the assault being reported to police, the victim refused to cooperate and said he did not wish for the offence to go to court.

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The reason the victim gave was that he had known Carss for many years and believed the attack was out of character. He recognised that Carss struggled with mental health difficulties.

But prosecutor Owen Beale said that the incident could not be ignored, as was a sustained act of violence that happened in public.

Carss, a 28-year-old from Hinton Road in Hereford, pleaded guilty to the charge in February and was given a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £125 in court costs and a £26 victim surcharge.

Explaining why no compensation was ordered, Hereford magistrates said: "It was unpleasant and there was a broken nose, but the victim didn't want it brought to court."

Mitigating, Chris Read said that there were no previous convictions against Carss, and that he was of good character.

He explained that the incident happened after Carss had started taking a new medication for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and mixed it with alcohol, which he was not supposed to.

Mr Read reassured magistrates that Carss did not "present a risk of reoffending".