Son of Russian deputy PM jailed

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The son of Russia's deputy prime minister has been jailed for 14 months after a drunken brawl which left a banker with a crushed cheekbone.

Petr Zhukov attacked Ben Ramsey, 26, at a house party in Albany Court, Whitechapel, east London.

Mr Ramsey also suffered cracked ribs in the assault in July last year.

Zhukov, 24, also an investment banker, was convicted of unlawful wounding at a trial at Southwark Crown Court in May. He is the son of Aleksandr Zhukov.

In the dock with him was colleague Artjom Dahko, a 27-year-old Latvian described as a "brilliant" mergers and acquisitions analyst.

Shoe insult

He started the fight, admitted the wounding charge and received 12 months.

Passing sentence, Judge Nicholas Loraine-Smith rejected defence pleas for suspended sentences and told the pair the attack was "too brutal" and the consequences of it on their victim "too great to allow me to impose anything other than an immediate custodial sentence".

Mr Ramsey now suffers flashbacks and nightmares.

On the night of the attack, he and a friend had heard the loud music from Dahko's flat, bought a few beers and decided to introduce themselves to their new neighbours.

Initially they were welcomed in. But moments later Dahko woke from a drunken stupor and became offended when he saw the men were still wearing their shoes - an insult in his culture.

"You, Dahko, immediately and completely lost your temper and attacked Mr Ramsey," said the judge. "You didn't even give him a chance to leave.

"You began hitting him in the head and the body."

Zhukov, of Greencroft Gardens, West Hampstead, north-west London, initially tried to stop the attack but soon lost his temper and also began attacking Mr Ramsey, the court heard.

He was chased out of the flat where he was punched and kicked to the ground.

The judge said he could not ignore a caution Zukhov had received a few weeks earlier for a drunken attack on a taxi driver when deciding a sentence.

Zhukov and Dahko were also ordered to pay Mr Ramsey £15,000 in compensation.