A “PACK” of thugs punched and kicked a have-a-go hero so badly he suffered a bleed to the brain in a York city centre attack, a court heard.

Ference Basty, 24, Gabor Dajnics, 25, and Tamas Szanto, 21, were fighting a fourth man at 3.30am on September 1 when an off-duty security manager tried to intervene, said Simon Waley, prosecuting.

York worker Szanto grabbed the security manager in a headlock while the other two continued to fight the fourth man.

Basty, a chef, and holidaymaker Dajnics then joined Szanto, who was still holding their victim in a headlock, and all three defendants took part in the attack on him which included throwing him to the ground and kicking and punching him as he lay in the middle of North Street.

The victim spent three days in York Hospital with a bleed to the brain.

“He was attempting to stop you in your assault, he was a peacemaker,” Judge Andrew Stubbs QC told the three defendants about the victim at York Crown Court. “This kind of drunken pack violence is completely unacceptable.”

Basty and Dajnics, both of Holgate Road, York, and Szanto, of Norfolk Street, all admitted causing grievous bodily harm to the victim and were each given a 16-month prison sentence suspended for 18 months and ordered to do 200 hours’ unpaid work and pay £300 compensation to the victim. In addition, Basty was ordered to do 25 days’ rehabilitative activities and Szanto 15 days’ rehabilitative activities.

For Basty, James Gelsthorpe said the fourth man began the violence by punching Basty, but Basty accepted he had gone too far afterwards.

For Dajnics, Nicoleta Alistair said he had been visiting his friends in the UK and his arrest had meant he couldn’t return to Hungary. He too was remorseful.

For Szanto, Amy Levitt said he had been trying to protect his friends.