A drunken personal trainer who knocked a deliveryman’s tooth out in a row over a loaf of bread has been spared jail.

Brendan Smith, 28, was walking down Stoke Newington Road with two friends last September when he grabbed a loaf of bread from a delivery to Robert Leon’s corner shop.

When Mr Leon asked him to return it, Smith, of Walsham Close, Stoke Newington, punched him in the face twice and threw a bottle at him.

He then turned and punched delivery man Halshad Patel so hard he fell to the ground, knocking out one of his back teeth.

Smith then tried to force his way into the shop screaming: “Your life in Hackney is finished,” but Mr Leon picked up a broom to try and keep him out.

CCTV footage showed his two friends trying to drag him away and calm him down.

Smith, who was arrested at the scene, claimed in his interview he had tried to buy the loaf but had been told it cost £5 and had then been punched himself.

He admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm and affray.

Fallon Alexis, for Smith, said: ‘He’s said he is sorry for his actions and that he is disappointed with himself, and he hopes his victims won’t suffer any long-term effects of his behaviour.

Sentencing Smith to eight months imprisonment suspended for 18 months at Snaresbrook Crown Court on Tuesday, Judge John Lafferty said it was a “nasty offence”.

He continued: “I’m told you are on the brink of trying to get into university and you’re obviously an intelligent young man.

“There’s only one chance, and if you don’t take the chance I’m giving you, you will serve the sentence I’m imposing.”

Smith was also ordered to complete 100 hours unpaid work, pay £200 costs and attend a thinking skills course.