REVELLERS at a house party feared a man who fell down a flight of stairs after he was punched by a drunken dad had been killed.

Shane Godsell, who had been taking cocaine with the booze, launched the drunken attack at the bash in Corsham before Christmas last year.

When his victim Alan Stewart lay motionless on the floor witnesses feared the worst, a judge at Swindon Crown Court was told.

Now after hearing the 27-year-old defendant had never been in trouble before and had worked until the conviction caused him to lose his job, a judge decided not to jail him.

Claire Marlow, prosecuting, told how he thumped his victim in an unprovoked attack at the party on Saturday December 13 last year.

As a result of the blow she said the victim went down the stairs suffering a bad injury to his wrist.

She said Mr Stewart worked as an IT consultant and as a result of the assault he lost thousands in earnings.

Godsell, of Poynder Road, Corsham, admitted grievous bodily harm.

A probation officer told the court the defendant, who had taken drink and cocaine that night, was sorry for what he had done.

Matthew Scott, defending, said his client was drunk at the time of the incident and there was no premeditation.

"Things got out of hand in the context of a drunken party. He threw the one punch," he said.

When the judge pointed out one punch can kill, Mr Scott said: "A number of people who were present thought that that had happened when they saw Mr Stewart."

But he said he was able to get up and after a short period of time managed to walk home.

"It is something that has shocked Mr Godsell a good deal, though not as much as it shocked his victim," he said.

He had worked at a cleaning firm on a contact for Bath council but the conviction had meant he could not continue in the position and now just had some casual work.

Mr Scott said his client had initially said he thought the victim made inappropriate comments to a woman at the party, which prosecutors insist was not the case.

Passing sentence Recorder Ian Lawrie QC: "This all arose because you were clearly drunk.

"Whatever the prompt, whether it was language or not, I don't care. It doesn't excuse what you did.

"If you punch another person and they fall down stairs there is a very real risk you could end up killing them, do you understand that?"

He imposed a one-year community order with 200 hours unpaid work and told him to pay £500 compensation.