A 20-YEAR-OLD who held a man while a friend punched and headbutted him has escaped jail for a second time.

Gary Gerrish, of Barnwell Road, Melksham, was sentenced to carry out 240 hours of community service by a judge at Swindon Crown Court for the assault, which happened following a funfair in Melksham last year.

After he failed to turn up on two occasions the probation service sent the case back to the court.

This time a judge has allowed the order to continue and added another seven hours to mark the breach.

Michael Butt, prosecuting at Swindon Crown Court, said after being sentenced in May Gerrish failed to turn up to do the work in June and then again in September.

However he said that at the time of the breach the defendant had completed 58 hours of unpaid work.

Gerrish told the court that he had done further work on the order and now had 161 hours remaining.

Recorder Ignatius Hughes said he had been quite fortunate' to get the order in the first place and warned him to be careful as he could go to jail for another breach of the order.

The original offence took place on King George V Playing Field shortly after 10pm on October 7 2005.

Gerrish was with friends following the end of the funfair when they saw a 16-year-old boy with whom they had a dispute.

After a confrontation Gerrish held the teenager's hands behind his back while one of his friends punched and headbutted him.

Gerrish later admitted causing actual bodily harm, but the court was told that the other youth involved, who was 16 at the time of the attack, had been dealt with separately by magistrates and not jailed.

Sentencing Gerrish to the community service order originally, Judge Tom Longbotham said: "Both should have been before the court today. Were that the case this court would most seriously have been considering custodial sentences."