Updated: Suspended sentence for ex-Dales actor

Ex-Emmerdale actor Luke Tittensor was today handed a two-year suspended sentence for causing grievous bodily harm.

The 19-year-old - who admitted to inflicting GBH on a 16-year-old in February last year - appeared at Bolton Crown Court this afternoon where he was sentenced to nine months in prison suspended for two years.

The sentence also included 200 hours' unpaid work with an order to pay £1,000 compensation and £1,100 costs.

The unnamed Rochdale teenager suffered a broken jaw in the incident and was forced to undergo corrective surgery.

Judge Lindsey Kushner QC said: "You look like a responsible young man. You behaved like so many of the louts that we see before us in these courts. You are 19 years of age but ostensibly more mature than most 19-year-olds because you have been living in the public eye since you were a child."

He continued: "I have to demonstrate to the public that whether you are famous or whether you are unknown, the court has to take a dim view of this behaviour. This poor boy has suffered a full assault, serious injury, surgery, and he is generous enough to say all he wants you to do is accept your responsibility, which in fact you have."

He added: "Goodness knows what happened. I don't know if you were a victim of your own inflated view on that day, I don't know. Can there be an end to this, please?"

The attack took place after a drinks carton was thrown at the victim from the car Tittensor was travelling in. The car initially left the scene, before returning to the victim who, according to prosecuting solicitor Mark Ford, was subsequently struck "without warning or provocation".

Mr Ford added: "The force of that blow caused him to fall to the ground and the defendant then stamped on the face of his victim as he lay prone."

Last week, ITV soap Emmerdale took the decision to axe Tittensor from the show due to the serious nature of the offence.