A WOMAN was punched by a drunken thug at a Christmas night out.

The culprit was 26-year-old Connor McLean, who appeared at Dunfermline Sheriff Court for sentencing for his attack on a complete stranger.

McLean, of Waverley Place, Lochore, punched the woman twice to the face, cutting her and knocking her to the ground.

He admitted that on December 17 last year at Lochore Miners Welfare, Lochleven Road, he assaulted a woman by repeatedly punching her on the head to her injury.

Depute fiscal Laura McManus said that McLean had become more and more argumentative as the evening went on then at 1am he spoke to the woman when they were both standing outside.

They were engaged in a brief conversation before he punched her twice to the eye and she fell to the ground, hitting her head. He then ran off.

The victim was on the ground for several minutes. She suffered significant bruising and swelling, a cut near her eyebrow and injury to the back of her head.

Defence solicitor Amy Harley said: “His explanation is that he was at his Christmas works night out and a lot of alcohol was consumed.

"He doesn’t have much recollection about it. They were not known to each other.”

She said McLean has not consumed alcohol since the incident.

Sheriff Craig McSherry imposed a community payback order with 180 hours of unpaid work.