A ‘DEFENCELESS’ drunk man was choked until he passed out twice and was kicked repeatedly as he lay on the ground.

Leon Isaac was responsible for a chokehold on Peter Melton near Crowngate shopping centre in Worcester. The 21-year-old admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm at Worcester Crown Court on Monday.

Mr Melton was asked to leave Tramps by door staff at 3am on January 22 last year. Andrew Tucker, prosecuting, said Mr Melton was followed by a group of four to seven men, all strangers to him, drawing the attention of the CCTV operator.

Mr Tucker said: “Mr Melton was grabbed by one of the men who appears to be this defendant and placed into a chokehold. It seems Mr Isaac got himself behind Mr Melton, put his neck into the crook of his arm and squeezed. The result of that was that Mr Melton passed out.

“It’s a group attack on a man who is defenceless because of his isolation and because he’s drunk.”

When Mr Melton came to he shouted at the men but was attacked again in a similar manner and passed out a second time although this time not as a result of the defendant’s actions.

He described Mr Melton being kicked repeatedly, his ordeal coming to an end when a doorman from the nightclub appeared.

Isaac has previous convictions for robbery (2008), aggravated burglary (2013), threatening behaviour (2015) and attempted robbery (2018) for which he is serving a 30 month prison sentence.

Sophie Murray, defending, said Mr Melton had beckoned her client over and said he did not know the other men in the group, denying being part of a gang.

She said of Mr Melton: “He was clearly, because of his drunken nature, up for an argument.”

Recorder Allan Dooley jailed Isaac for nine months.