A PENHILL man has been jailed for more than two-and-a-half years after he kicked a man unconscious outside a nightclub.

Joseph Wood eventually pleaded guilty to grievous bodily harm after hearing the opening evidence at a trial earlier this year, Swindon Crown Court was told.

The 23-year-old had set upon the man after his wife and Wood's girlfriend Danielle Coulson had been involved in a disagreement on August 14 last year.

Wood, of Ramsbury Avenue, charged at his victim from behind and attacked him before kicking him numerous times while he was on the floor, leaving him unconscious. He then left the scene, along with his girlfriend.

Judge Tom Longbotham told Wood that he had read a letter he had written which told him that he was remorseful and had changed his ways.

But he said that it effectively said that he had not told the truth on oath during a hearing before the trial started.

The Judge said: "You said then that you had not seen Danielle Coulson for a long time and you wanted nothing to do with her, you were pretty dismissive at the time.

"Now you tell the court that she means everything to you and that she is pregnant with your child and the time is right for a change in your behaviour."

Earlier John Kearney, defending, said that his client insisted he was initially trying to calm the situation before the incident having seen his girlfriend being assaulted.

He said that Wood then 'lost it' and attacked the man but added that thankfully he had not been badly injured in the attack.

The court was also told that Wood used a stolen credit card on three occasions this summer to pay off an old drug debt.

Jonathan Stanniland, prosecuting, said Wood had been released from jail in April after serving half of a two-year sentence, just months before the offences in August.

He said that a card which was taken in a burglary was used in Newbury to buy mobile phones, cigarettes and jewellery.

Sentencing, the judge told him: "This was a nasty attack. The use of the boot, or the foot, will not be tolerated."

He jailed him for two years for the GBH and three months consecutively for three counts of obtaining property by deception and handling a stolen credit card. But he will first have to serve four months of the previous sentence, making the total two years and seven months.