by Keith Hunt

Two thugs have been jailed for a vicious attack outside a Medway nightclub which left their victim with permanent brain damage.

CCTV film showed Spencer Dodgson being punched to the ground by Wayne Brooks, where he lay unconscious as Dean Marney took a running kick at his head.

Marney, 30, was jailed for three years and Brooks, 28, for two years nine months, after they admitted inflicting grievous bodily harm.

A judge at Maidstone Crown Court said Mr Dodgson, 28, of Scholars Rise, Strood, suffered a life-threatening injury and there was a serious ongoing effect on him.

The victim had been to the Casino Rooms in Rochester when in the early hours of March 14 last year violence erupted between local men a group from London, which included Marney and Brooks.

Judge Charles Macdonald QC said trouble was first caused by the victim, who was seen taking his jumper off, but no real harm was done.

Shortly afterwards, Marney and Brooks, both from South Lambeth, South West London, approached him in the Blue Boar Lane car park.

Mr Dodgson tried to run but he was punched by Brooks. A “slapping” noise was heard as his head hit the ground.

While unconscious, Marney took a run up and kicked Mr Dodgson in the head and face.

The victim was taken to Medway Hospital and then transferred to London’s King’s College Hospital for specialist care.

He was detained in the intensive care unit for two-and-a-half weeks for a fractured skull and swelling to both sides of the head, which led to brain damage.

The judge said Mr Dodgson now had trouble “mobilising” his left side.

He said in a statement: “My life has been turned upside down. All I know is I woke up in hospital. I will never be the same again.”

Judge Macdonald described it as “a sorry incident” involving a joint enterprise by Brooks and Marney to inflict lasting brain injury.

“Brawls of this kind outside nightclubs are a matter of public concern,” he added.

Amanda Hamilton, for Brooks, said imprisonment meant the father would miss the birth of his third child. “He accepts his actions were shameful,” she said. “He was drunk.”