A Scotsman, who got drunk at his work’s Christmas party, attacked a young couple after he collapsed at a taxi rank.

Steven Brown – who is six feet four inches tall - punched a young man in the groin, as he tried to help the 37-year-old removals man get to his feet at the rank.

Brown then hugged the man’s 16-year-old girlfriend and bit her cheek.

Brown, of Newton Poppleford, had downed up to 10 pints and some shots at his Christmas party five days before Christmas in Exeter.

Prosecutor Lindsey Baker said he was so drunk he was not allowed into a bar in the city and then became abusive towards a cabbie who drove off.

Brown then fell to the ground and the young man bent down to pick him up and Brown ‘punched him hard in the genitals’, which left the young man doubled up.

He continued to help Brown up and the Scotsman then hugged the teenage girl and ‘bit her cheek’, causing pain, redness and bruising.

He told Exeter magistrates he had no memory of attacking the couple who were trying to help him get a cab home.

Brown, defending himself, said: “I apologise for what I have done. I drank too much alcohol.”

The court heard he had previous convictions for violence from 2005 and ordered a pre-sentence report.

Brown, who admitted two common assaults, was bailed and will be sentenced in late January.