A DRUNKEN drugged up pair have been warned they could have killed a man when they left him with a fractured skull in a 'cowardly' town centre attack.

Lewis Clark and Nathan Shurmer rained kicks on their victim's head as he lay unconscious

Clark, 20, pleaded not guilty to grievous bodily harm with intent but was convicted following a trial, while Shurmer, 22, admitted the charge.

Their victim Aidan Pritchard was in Chippenham's Bath Road car park in the early hours of Saturday, April 22 2017 when the defendants, who are from Melksham, arrived.

They were being loud and aggressive to the victim and his pals and got involved in another scuffle, Swindon Crown Court heard.

Colin Meeke, prosecuting, said Mr Pritchard was acting as a peacemaker when he spoke to them, and tried to shake Clark by the hand.

But as he was walking away Clark chased after him and punched him, sending him to the ground where his head hit the pavement making a sound 'like a brick'.

Shurmer then joined in as they rained kicks on him as others tried to pull them off.

Mr Pritchard was rushed to hospital where he received treatment for a fracture to the base of the skull and a bleed on the brain, though he made a full recovery.

In his victim personal statement he said "I feel what they did to me was cowardly: I was kicked when I was down and unconscious."

Alec Small, for Shurmer, said that his client had admitted what he had done from the start and insisted he was not aiming to kick Mr Pritchard's head, but accepted he had.

He said Shurmer, of Ferris Grove, Melksham, was out celebrating his 21st birthday that night and drank far too much.

At one point, he said, he was trying to hold back his co-defendant and had got involved out of 'misplaced loyalty'.

He added that Shurmer's partner and their child, who is just a few weeks old, would now be without him as he served his sentence.

Michael Standing, for Clark, said his client had always admitted his role in the assault, just denied the intention to cause serious harm.

He said Clark, of Locking Close, Bowerhill, had no explanation for what he did apart from having far too much to drink and experimenting with drugs.

"He found himself in a state he had never been in before. He simply can't explain why he acted in the way he did," he said.

Jailing them Judge Robert Pawson said "Almost exactly a year ago you were out in town and you were both intoxicated through alcohol and drugs.

"It is a matter of luck not judgement that you didn't leave him with some really serious form of injury or worse, you could have killed him.

"It happens all the time, young men when intoxicated kick or stamp on someone on the ground and they kill them."

He jailed Clark for four years and four months and Shurmer for two years and eight months.