The real impact of violent crime is often not in the white heat of the incident itself, though that is, of course, usually terrifying and damaging, but in the aftermath.

Take the case of Ryan Bennett, who was yesterday jailed for 12 months for attacking teenager Craig Spiers.

Mr Spiers was seen talking to Bennett’s girlfriend at a social event, and as “jealousy burned inside him”, Bennett head-butted the other man.

That one moment of madness has now seen one man sent to prison and another has had his life ruined.

That is no mere hackneyed turn of phrase, because Craig Spiers had long harboured a dream to become an RAF pilot.

After being attacked by Bennett, Mr Spiers underwent three hours of surgery and will have bolts and metal plates in his head for the rest of his life.

Now he doubts he will be able to pass the necessarily rigorous medical examinations required to fulfil his ambition.

It is, in fact, two lives that have been ruined by this single violent act. Bennett, according to his defence lawyers, was of previous good character. He hit Spiers with a head-butt once, and did not carry out a frenzied, sustained attack.

But once was enough to leave Mr Spiers’s dreams in tatters and Bennett jailed and with a resulting stain on his character that will haunt him and his own ambitions.

Was it all worth it? It’s doubtful that anyone involved in this sorry, violent incident would think so.