A PUBLIC kiss led to a damaged cheekbone and a court appearance when an estranged boyfriend witnessed it, a court heard.

Steven John Russell, 38, lashed out with a metal toilet roll holder at the man who was kissing his estranged partner, said prosecutor Alan Mitcheson.

He injured the other man's cheekbone.

The victim did not want to press charges because he and Russell were long-time friends, but the Crown Prosecution Service went ahead with the case anyway, and Russell ended up in the dock at York Crown Court.

Russell, of Parliament Street, Norton, pleaded guilty to unlawful violence and was ordered to carry out 150 hours' unpaid work on a community order.

"You know you lost it," Judge Tom Cracknell told him.

"You are not allowed to behave like that.

"It gets you nowhere and doesn't help."

Mr Mitcheson said of the incident between the two men: "A disagreement appears to have arisen between them following a social gathering in Helmsley in the early hours of January 4.

"The provocation for that was that he had seen the complainant kissing someone."

That someone was the estranged partner of Russell, and the attacker was hoping that their relationship could be resumed.

"He lost control in those circumstances and attacked the victim in that way", said Mr Mitcheson.

The victim needed hospital treatment When police investigated, the victim, who was not named in court, refused to co-operate, said Mr Mitcheson.

Russell was extremely remorseful when interviewed by police and suggested that he had acted partly in self-defence as the victim was bigger than him.

But he accepted he had gone "over the top."

Russell's barrister, Andrew Semple, did not offer any mitigation, after the judge revealed what the sentence would be.