Yob jailed at Teesside Crown Court for role in ferocious late night attack on innocent reveller in Hartlepool town centre

The victim was left lying unconscious in the road after being punched and kicked repeatedly by three young thugs who he told to be quiet.

One of the group, 25-year-old Connor McLeod, has been jailed at Teesside Crown Court for his role in the “ferocious” attack.

Prosecutor Peter Sabiston told how the victim was attacked after leaving Club H in Church Street with his girlfriend in the early hours of June 19 last year.

Mr Sabiston said: “When the victim told the group to be quiet, three of the group, including this defendant, confronted him.”

They punched and kicked him while he was pinned against some street furniture before managing to get away.

But the gang chased after him and attacked him again, which was caught on CCTV.

Mr Sabiston added: “He is pursued and fell to the floor where he is repeatedly punched and kicked before the intervention of others.

"This is a persistent and prolonged incident, though depicted on the CCTV as quite short.”

Thankfully, the victim suffered only minor injuries, but the court heard he has experienced long term effects including chronic headaches and a permanent scar on his arm.

"I would like the court to know how this has affected me,” he said in a statement read out during the sentencing hearing.

McLeod, of Dowson Road, Hartlepool, who has previous convictions for violence, admitted a charge of wounding at Teesside Magistrates’ Court last month.

He has been recalled to prison to finish serving a 27-month sentence for assault and coercive behaviour.

McLeod was given 20 months in prison for the wounding.

The Recorder of Middlesbrough, Judge Paul Watson, said: “Miraculously the physical injuries were not as bad as they might well have been.

"I have seen the CCTV and able to judge for myself the ferocity of this attack.”

Martin Scarborough, mitigating, said McLeod had had the “good sense” to plead guilty quickly and asked for the inevitable jail sentence to be kept as short as possible.