A CARER who left a former Lancashire Telegraph reporter with traumatic brain injuries after an unprovoked and ‘cowardly’ attack outside a London pub has been jailed for two years.

Rugby league reporter Gary Carter, 35, was having a quiet pint in the Star Of Bethnal Green pub, before covering the England vs New Zealand test match, when he become embroiled in trouble with James Flanagan and his nephew.

Snaresbrook Crown Court heard that Mr Carter didn’t complain about their ‘loud and annoying behaviour’ but was hit a number of times, before ending up outside the bar.

He was being treated by two paramedics, who happened to be parked outside, when Flanagan approached and hit him again, as the victim tried to defend himself, the court was told.

Flanagan then offered to shake hands but instead relaunched the attack, until the reporter eventually reeled backwards and his head hit the pavement with a ‘loud crack’.

Though the attacker fled the scene he was arrested later. He pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm.

Jailing him, Judge David Radford said: “You were responsible for a sustained, cowardly and vicious assault causing life-threatening and life-changing injuries to an innocent man who had done nothing to justify such an attack.

“A significant feature of your violence is that after you delivered your first punch on your unsuspecting victim Mr Carter you despicably approached him, deceiving him by holding out your hand.”

The court heard Mr Carter, who has also worked for the Manchester Evening News and The Sun, was rushed to hospital with bleeding on the brain and a fractured skull.

He needed surgery to release pressure on the brain and was put in to a medically-induced coma. He later suffered respiratory distress and had a cardiac arrest.

He has problems with language, fluency and memory, needs help to walk and do daily activities but can make slow and steady progress through a rehabilitation programme.

Mr Carter’s wife, Gemma, said she struggles with anxiety attacks and cannot go back to work as a child protection officer.

In a statement, she told the court ‘it is impossible to put in to words how it feels to be told that your husband has two minutes to live’.

Ms Organ said: “He is on the road to recovery but, even though he is on the road to recovery, this level of progress is far from certain. He made a living as a sports journalist travelling the country and the world, now he has trouble holding a pen.”

Abigail Penny, defending, said Flanagan is ‘ashamed’ of what he had done.