A TEENAGER left a16-year-old boy knocked out and fitting on the ground after punching him in the face, a court heard today.

Before leaving the scene in the Parr area James Maughan shouted over to the unconscious boy: “yeah, sleep”.

Shortly afterwards Maughan also posted boastful messages on Facebook via his mobile phone including “left and right hook right on the chin. Haha, out cold”.

People at the attack scene got the victim to his feet and took him home.

His mother took him to Warrington A & E where his injuries were found to include a fracture to a bone in his skull, said Michael Scholes, prosecuting.

He also had bruising and swelling to the back of his head, injuries to both lips and pain in his jaw.

The attacker, meanwhile, had made further allegations about the victim of Facebook.

Maughan, now 19, was arrested and when interviewed made no comment other than denying posting the Facebook messages.

Mr Scholes told Liverpool Crown Court that the attack happened shortly after midnight on August 7 last year when Maughan approached the boy, who was with others, and twice punched him.

Maughan, of Herbert Street, Sutton, pleaded guilty to wounding.

Judge Robert Warnock sentenced him to eight months imprisonment suspended for two years.

He also imposed a 7am to 7pm electronically monitored curfew for three months and place him under supervision for 12 months.

Simon Killeen, defending, said that Maughan has no previous convictions and had exhibited a “momentary lapse of temper which could have had much more serious consequences”.