A brave supermarket worker was left fighting for his life after a vicious thug pounced on him at work.

Paul Gurr's eye socket had to be rebuilt with metal plates after the vicious attack by Luke Gorman.

His injuries were so bad he missed the birth of his daughter five days later - despite being in the same hospital.

The attack happened after Gorman had been binge-drinking with other youths in Bexhill.

He was pushing one of his friends in a shopping trolley in the car park at Tesco on the town's Ravensdale retail park.

The trolley hit a moving car, spilling Gorman's friend onto the ground.

Gorman, who was 16 at the time but is now 18, ran off with three other youths.

The car driver gave chase and Mr Gurr ran after them, Hove Crown Court was told today.

Mr Gurr, who was the Tesco store's trolley collector, was then confronted by Gorman who punched him in the face with a force strong enough to knock him to the ground.

Gorman continued a frenzied attack punching his victim repeatedly.

The father-of-two suffered a depressed skull fracture around his eye socket and further multiple fractures around his nose.

After his attacker fled, he managed to stagger back to the store where colleagues called an ambulance.

Mr Gurr, 39, was in hospital for five days and his eye socket had to be rebuilt.

Gorman, of Gwyneth Grove, Bexhill, pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm with intent on October 20, 2006.

At Hove Crown Court today he was given a two-year detention and training order in a youth offender institute.

Mr Gurr was off work for three months following the attack.

Speaking after the verdict, Mr Gurr said: "I am pleased that he has been punished but would have liked the sentence to be longer.

"I have no memory of the attack or the days after so it is my family who have suffered."

Mr Gurr was so badly hurt he was unable to be at the birth of his daughter Kerry five days after the attack, despite being in the same hospital.

His wife Brenda is still having counselling after being traumatised by the sight of her husband's injuries.

Mr Gurr added: "I had bleeding on the brain and was unconscious for a lot of the time in hospital. My family were so worried and Brenda was heavily pregnant.

"I missed my daughter's birth and I'll never forgive him for that."

Earlier Rebecca Upton, defending, said Gorman had asked her to apologise in court to Mr Gurr for the attack.

She said Gorman felt genuine remorse and had stopped binge-drinking as a result of what happened.

But Judge Cedric Joseph told him: "This is an extremely serious offence which carries life imprisonment.

"You punched this man who had done nothing wrong hard enough to put him on the ground.

"Not content with that you punched him again even though you could see he had banged his head on the ground.

"That was not enough for you and you had to go and punch him again.

"This was quite disgraceful conduct and he suffered really serious injuries as a result of your behaviour.

"Young people must realise that if they go out and drink and commit serious offences of violence there can only be one result - a custodial sentence."