A student attacked a man with a baseball bat, fracturing his skull, after being summoned to a street confrontation.

At Bolton Crown Court Khuram Ilyas, who is in his final year of an accountancy and finance degree, was sentenced to three years in jail for causing grievous bodily harm to Abbas Ibrahim.

His co-accused, Wasim Iqbal, received a three-month curfew for assaulting a second man, Omar Majid.

Both defendants were due to stand trial over the incident, which began at the Level nightclub in Nelson Square in the early hours of November 29, 2015, but changed their plea to guilty on the day it was to start.

Hunter Gray, prosecuting, told Judge Graeme Smith that Iqbal and Mr Ibrahim knew each other from school and were inside the club when a dispute broke out between them which spilled out into the street at 4.30am.

Police were called who broke up the pair and they eventually left the town centre in separate vehicles.

But Mr Ibrahim and Mr Majid, passengers in an Audi driven by Safwan Ali, encountered Iqbal, driving a Toyota, again in Chorley Old Road.

The occupants of the Audi claimed Iqbal forced their car to a halt near the Spar shop and they got out of their vehicles as Ilyas arrived on the scene in a BMW.

The court heard that a phone call had summoned 22-year-old Ilyas to the confrontation and he had not been involved in the initial dispute between Iqbal and Mr Ibrahim.

Mr Hunter told how the first blow was struck by Iqbal, who hit Mr Majid to the head, leaving him with bruising and swelling.

Then Ilyas attacked Mr Ibrahim with a bat.

“He recalls being hit three times by the bat — to the arm, body and then to the side of his head,” said Mr Hunter.

“This blow knocked him unconscious and he cannot remember anything thereafter until he woke up in hospital.”

A CT scan showed that Mr Ibrahim had a fractured skull and bleeding on his brain which resulted in him spending 10 days in hospital and left him with amnesia, daily headaches and a temporary loss of taste and smell. He has had to give up his job at the airport and has not worked since.

David Bentley, defending Ilyas, said: “He accepts responsibility for this unsavoury incident.”

He added that the University of Central Lancashire student is due to graduate this July and hopes to become an accountant.

“He is ashamed and devastated about his actions and the impact they will have on his family,” he said.

Iqbal, aged 19, of Chorley New Road, Bolton, is due to be released mid February from a 10-month prison sentence imposed for dangerous driving. Mohammed Nawaz, defending, stressed that the “extremely unpleasant and ugly” assault occurred before the driving offence and he has now matured.

“He wishes to move on and put this period of his life behind him,” he said.

Judge Smith sentenced him to a 7pm to 7am electronically tagged curfew to commence on his prison release.

Jailing Ilyas, of Bradford Street, Bolton, the judge told him: “On one hand you are described as a polite student who has a strong work ethic. However, on the other hand you are someone who, on November 29, lashed out with a baseball bat.

“It gives me no pleasure to send someone into custody in the knowledge that it will disrupt, if not terminate, their education.

“However, your particular case leaves me with no alternative.”