The Scottish Sun breached accuracy standards with a headline that said a “thug” was “boozed-up” as he launched an attack in a shop, when he was in fact sober, the UK’s largest press regulator has ruled.

In a court report, the newspaper said John Burns, 44, had “initially acted in self defence” against another man, who the court was told was drunk and acting aggressively, but his reaction was “cruel and excessive”

Burns, of Hamilton, Scotland, has admitted the attack, in which he inflicted 47 blows on his victim, leaving him with a fractured cheekbone, broken tooth and damaged eye socket on him, according to the newspaper.