A TEENAGER who hit and injured a shopkeeper’s face with a bottle in a late night convenience store has been jailed.

Lewis Young, 19, went on the run to try and avoid the consequences of his 4am attack close to Ouse Bridge, York Crown Court heard.

But he was found and arrested on Christmas Day with a knife on him.

Young, formerly of Acomb Road, York, pleaded guilty to wounding.

Recorder Sam Green QC told him: “He was on his own in the shop, vulnerable in my judgement, to louts like you.”

He jailed Young for eight months, to be served concurrently with the six-month sentence he was given for carrying a knife at York Magistrates' Court in January.

Rob Galley, prosecuting, said the shopkeeper was preparing to close the Spar shop in Bridge Street at 4am on June 16.

One of a group of youths who had been into the shop earlier at 11pm came in and appeared to be about to steal some sandwiches.

The shopkeeper tried to stop him leaving by electronically locking the door but other youths attacked the door to try and open it and when the shopkeeper did open it, the first youth stole the sandwiches and left.

Young then picked up a 70cl bottle of rum about two feet away from the shopkeeper, who tried to grab it back.

Young pushed him back before pushing him in the bridge of his nose and striking him with the bottle.

The bottle cut the shopkeeper’s face making a 2cm wound, said Mr Galley.

The shopkeeper managed to stay on his feet and Young left dropping the bottle as he did so.

The shopkeeper had to have five stitches inserted into his face to close the cut.

He has since left the city and is believed to be in London.

Police on patrol spotted Young in a group of men in the city centre carrying a bottle of lager.

Officers checked the bottle of rum for fingerprints and identified Young as the attacker.

They charged him but he failed to attend York Magistrates' Court in November, and a warrant was issued for his arrest.

He was caught on Christmas Day in Stockton-on-the-Forest, carrying a knife.

Defence solicitor advocate Neal Kutte offered an explanation for the reason Young had acted as he had, saying: “He was angry with what the shopkeeper had just done against his friend. He lost his temper and saw red.”

Young couldn’t explain why he had picked up the bottle of rum.

“It was on the spur of the moment,” said Mr Kutte.

Young had had a difficult childhood and may have been acting under peer pressure in the shop, said the defence lawyer.

The Spar shop has now closed.