A man who viciously assaulted a Tube passenger in the early hours of New Year’s Day has been jailed, following a British Transport Police (BTP) investigation.

Joseph Gullefer of Heaton Avenue, Harold Hill, was imprisoned for 12 months at Blackfriars Crown Court on Friday of last week, after pleading guilty at an earlier hearing to causing actual bodily harm.

Gullefer, 23, punched and kicked a man at around 3.30am on January 1, onboard a Northern line train travelling between Waterloo London Underground (LU) station and Embankment.

The 27-year-old victim boarded the train with his girlfriend at Waterloo while Gullefer was already onboard.

Gullefer started to walk down the couple’s carriage and stepped on the victim’s foot.

When the victim said “excuse me, please”, Gullefer punched the man in the face knocking him to the ground.

The victim’s girlfriend screamed at Gullefer to stop and said “you’re killing him”, but Gullefer continued to kick and punch the victim in the face and upper body.

When the train arrived at Embankment station all three got off the train and Gullefer was arrested.

The victim suffered concussion, cuts and bruising to his face and body.

Speaking after the sentencing, Det Con Olric Thomas, the investigating officer, said: “This was a vicious assault that left the victim needing hospital treatment for numerous cuts to his face.

“Joseph Gullefer had drunk a large amount of alcohol on New Year’s Eve and was clearly intent on causing trouble.

“Incidents such as this are thankfully very rare on the London Underground network and the chances of becoming a victim are very slim, but when they do happen, BTP takes them very seriously and will do everything in our power to bring offenders to justice.”