A BROTHER of Norwich City striker Chris Martin started a 15-month prison sentence last night after a vicious attack on a rugby player.Gerald Martin, 22, of Station Road, Beccles, was sentenced at Ipswich Crown Court yesterday.

A BROTHER of Norwich City striker Chris Martin started a 15-month prison sentence last night after a vicious attack on a rugby player.

Gerald Martin, 22, of Station Road, Beccles, was sentenced at Ipswich Crown Court yesterday.

Judge David Goodin said that the attack, which left Daniel Rix with two black eyes and a cut to his cheek, was extremely violent.

Following his trial at the court last month, a jury took less than an hour to find Martin guilty of causing actual bodily harm to the 21-stone lorry driver as he walked home from the Ingate pub in Beccles on June 29.

During the two-day trial, the court had heard that Mr Rix, who plays rugby for Beccles, was drinking in the Ingate pub when Martin's father, also called Gerald, barged into him, causing him to spill his drink.

A row broke out and when Mr Rix was walking home with a friend he saw Gerald Martin junior and his brother, Chris, in front of them.

The brothers slowed down and as Mr Rix walked past he was pushed to the ground and kicked in the head by the defendant.

The court heard that witnesses had identified Chris, who has been on loan to Luton Town, as being present during the incident, but not involved in it.

Simon Spence, mitigating, said: “Mr Martin is perhaps someone that when sober is a hard working, law abiding perfectly pleasant young man.

“He feels terrible shame letting down his family. There is a great deal of good about him. A lot will be thrown away by sending him off to prison.”