CORONATION Street newcomer James Cartwright broke a man’s eye socket in a sickening club attack.

Footage showed him lashing out at innocent dad Phil Mason despite the pair never speaking.

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Cartwright, scaffolder Theo Silverton in the ITV soap, was found guilty of grievous bodily harm and given an 18-month jail term, suspended a year.

Passing sentence, the judge told him: “I don’t know what possessed you to act in the way you did.

“You punched him very hard in the face for little or no reason.”

Cartwright, 40, joined Corrie in March and his character has a gay fling in a current storyline.

He has also played Morrissey in the film 24 Hour Party People and starred in radio’s The Archers.

Appalled victim Phil, 42, still suffers the effects of the punch and was shocked to spot the actor on his TV.

He said Cartwright has never apologised, adding: “It’s sickening that a man with a violent criminal past has a starring role in one of Britain’s biggest soaps.

ITV needs to explain why they’ve given this man a job.

“Viewers will think he’s a bit of a charmer when in reality he attacked me for no reason and could have blinded me, or worse.

“ITV need to decide whether having him on screen sends out the right message.”

Phil added: “I don’t want to see him on the telly in my living room after what he did to me and what he put me through.”

Phil was attacked on a night out with his football team at Applejax nightspot in Chorley, Lancs.

The dad of one said: “I went to the bar to get some drinks as I had the kitty. Cartwright was standing at the bar by himself. I didn’t speak or have any interaction with him.

“The lads came over and had their drinks and then the next thing I knew I was on the floor. I didn’t actually see it coming. I must have been knocked out.

“Someone called an ambulance and I was taken to A&E and they did an X-ray and told me I had a fractured eye socket and that my left eye had sunk.

“I was shocked as I could feel the blood dripping but just thought it was a cut and that I would have some stitches.”

In court, it was said Cartwright hit Phil with a heavy blow.

Phil had to stay in hospital for observation before surgeons operated, inserting a mesh into the socket to lift it back into place and reinforce the bone.

You often hear of people being blinded by being smashed in their face, or someone being punched in the head and falling back and hitting their head and dying

Phil

He was allowed home later that day but had to wear an eye patch for two weeks to prevent infection and his eye was badly swollen.

Phil added: “You often hear of people being blinded by being smashed in their face, or someone being punched in the head and falling back and hitting their head and dying.

“It’s only luck that meant I managed to escape without a more serious injury. Any blow to the face, worst case scenario, he could have killed me, couldn’t he?”

Phil was signed off for six weeks. But as a self-employed £1,000-a-week electrician he returned to work after two weeks as he feared falling behind on his mortgage.

A few days after the attack, cops came round to take a statement.

The investigating officers told Phil that Cartwright had initially claimed he was acting in self-defence as he felt threatened.

But CCTV captured the June 2012 incident and showed Phil had no prior interaction with Cartwright.

Phil added: “I saw the CCTV and it was like he was mad, saw me and just hit me. It was totally unprovoked. I never spoke to him. He didn’t speak to me.

“I’d never seen him before in my life or knew that he was on the TV. I only found that out much later.”

Cartwright denied one count of grievous bodily harm when he appeared at Preston crown court in July 2013.

He claimed to have acted in self- defence, but a jury convicted him following a trial. Besides the suspended custodial sentence, Cartwright was given a year’s supervision and told to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work.

He was told to pay £2,000 compensation to Phil, plus £2,000 towards prosecution costs.

Phil attended the trial, which was held in the court next to where one-eyed police killer Dale Cregan was facing justice at the same time, and watched CCTV of Cartwright’s violence as it was played to the jury.

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Defence barrister Neil Fryman said Cartwright, then 28, had no previous convictions. Mr Fryman said Cartwright had been successful in his acting career — winning a 2007 Royal Television Society Award for Best Leading Actor for his performance as Johnny in BBC’s production Johnny Shakespeare, about an illiterate young man who gets taught to read by an ex-drama teacher.

Mr Fryman told the court: “He reached the dizzy heights of the National Theatre, the West End and the Best Actor award by the Royal Television Society.”

It was totally unprovoked. I never spoke to him. He didn’t speak to me

Phil

Passing sentence, Judge Recorder Andrew Long told Cartwright: “I don’t know what possessed you to act in the way you did.

“You launched an attack upon him, punching him very hard in the face for little or no reason.

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“You know you put your life, everything you have worked for, in jeopardy.”

In a victim impact statement read at court, Phil told how he suffered from headaches after driving long distances and that he had stopped playing as much ­football as a doctor told him a ­second blow to the eye could leave him blind.

His eye also causes him pain and discomfort in cold weather.

Phil, who lives in a £225,000 three-bed semi in Preston, said: “It affected me for a long time.

“Definitely for the first couple of years after I was very wary of people I didn’t know and I still am.

“I don’t like being physically close to people. I am a bit self- conscious. I feel he got away with it by not being sent to prison.

“If an ordinary working-class person like me had done that to someone in a pub I’d have probably been doing some jail time.

“ITV should look much closer at who they employ.

“Should this man be beamed into everyone’s front rooms on the television as a Coronation Street character when he’s been convicted of GBH? That’s the question ITV needs to ask itself.”

Should this man be beamed into everyone’s front rooms on the television as a Coronation Street character when he’s been convicted of GBH? That’s the question ITV needs to ask itself

Phil

A spokesman for the actor said last night: “This is an incident which took place a long time ago. James has always regretted his reaction. Violence is never the answer.”

Earlier this month Corrie fans saw Cartwright’s character Theo leap to the defence of screen daughter Millie (Kaitlyn Earley) after she threw paint over a hearse belonging to Theo’s love interest, undertaker Todd Grimshaw (Gareth Pierce).

Millie shouted at Todd for tearing her family apart.

Theo is wed to Danielle (Natalie Anderson) in the Weatherfield soap.

Bolton-born Cartwright began his acting career aged 16.

He was a regular in Radio 4 drama The Archers voicing PC Harrison Burns.

Cartwright has also appeared in Clocking Off, the first Downton Abbey movie, Holby City, Doctors and as Nathan Jones in hit children’s show The Story of Tracy Beaker.

His stage credits include The History Boys and Passing By.

An ITV source said they were not aware of Cartwright’s conviction as it was spent.

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