A BUDLEIGH Salterton residential support worker who threw a foreigner off a city bridge, where he hit a metal pipe and fractured his skull, has been jailed for a year.

A BUDLEIGH Salterton residential support worker who threw a foreigner off a city bridge, where he hit a metal pipe and fractured his skull, has been jailed for a year.At Exeter Crown Court Recorder Paul Derbyshire told Leo Curtis, 32: "You picked your victim up by his ankles and pitched him over the bridge wall. You intended to put him in the water and, had you done that, you could have been facing a murder charge."I accept the attack was not planned and you were the worse for drink. But that does not explain what happened. The pre-sentence report recommends a suspended sentence but this is far too serious for anything other than immediate custody," said the Recorder.The court had heard the victim Przemark Kwiatrowski approached Curtis on the bridge near the canal basin and asked him if he could borrow his mobile telephone.Curtis had been out for a few drinks when the complainant came up to him and said he wanted to borrow his mobile.Defence counsel Nigel Wraith said Mr Kwiatrowski was allegedly drunk, aggressive and abusive and wanting to pick a fight with Curtis."He could have walked away but instead tipped him over the bridge into the river," said Mr Wraith.The court heard the victim, unfortunately, struck his head on a metal pipe and girder, which were above the water line, and fractured his skull but, since the incident, he had made a full recovery.Mr Wraith said because of his conviction, Curtis would lose a good job which would affect his young family and he was undertaking counselling aimed at finding out why he had acted in the way he had that night.The court heard the whole incident was captured on closed circuit surveillance cameras which clearly showed the detail of what had happened and that was shown to the court.Curtis, a residential support worker from Boyne Road, Budleigh Salterton, had pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm to Mr Kwiatrowski and his case had been adjourned for a pre-sentence report.