The two drunk men who goaded a driver, knocked him out and then continued to beat him while he lay unconscious – causing two blood clots and a fractured skull – have been jailed.
Marcus Dawson and Aaron Warrington attacked the 32-year-old when he got out of his car to tell them to move as they stood in front of traffic on a Ramsbottom street.
In front of his girlfriend’s 14-year-old nephew, the victim was punched in the face following a scuffle – which knocked him out cold.
He was then set upon, with one witness commenting that his head was ‘kicked like a football’, another noticing one attacker take a three step run-up to kick his head.
The victim has not yet returned to work full time and has issues with his memory following the attack on September 7 last year, and it is uncertain whether he will ever make a full recovery.
Detective Constable Dave Looby said: “This was a completely unprovoked attack on a man who simply wanted to remonstrate with this pair who were being a nuisance.
“There was no reason whatsoever for this to turn to violence, let alone for it to result in him receiving life-threatening injuries.”
Dawson, 20, of Caernarvon Close, Greenmount, Bury pleaded guilty to grievous bodily harm at an earlier hearing at Bolton Crown Court and was today sentenced to five years in prison.
Warrington, 24, of Peel Brow, Ramsbottom also pleaded guilty and was jailed for three years and four months.
The victim was driving home after finishing his shift at a nearby restaurant where he worked as a chef when the trouble started.
At about 11pm, he was at the junction of Bolton Street and Bridge Street when drunk Dawson and Warrington were in the way of traffic in the road.
The victim couldn’t get past, so got out to remonstrate which led to the horrific onslaught which only stopped when members of the public intervened.
Dawson was seen a short time later in a nearby pub with only one shoe and blood on his clothes.
He told someone he had just been in a fight and somebody ‘got in the way’.
The victim needed surgery on his injuries, and the scenes witnesses by the teen have scarred him for life.
However, the dangerous pair are now behind bars.
“Both these men now have a long time to reflect on this savage assault,” DC Looby added.
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