A MAN has told how he thought his friend was dead after fracturing his skull during a late night assault in York.

Peter Madden said his pal, Gareth Watts, 21, fell to the ground in Nessgate after being punched from behind and cracked his head on the pavement.

“I heard the crack when his head hit the ground,” he told The Press. “There was blood coming out of his ears and he was out of it for ten minutes until the ambulance arrived. To be honest I thought he was dead.

“They brought him round in the ambulance but he suffered internal bleeding on the brain.

“He is stable at York Hospital and getting better, and is able to walk and won't now need surgery as first thought, as it turns out it will heal naturally over time.

"He has a fracture on both sides of his head,one by an ear and the other by his right eye."

Peter said he was the only witness to the assault so far to come to the police, and he urged any other witnesses to contact the force, saying: “I'm sure there were many others present at that time that could've witnessed it too.

“If anyone could provide any information on either what they saw or the lad himself it would be fantastic. We want to have this absolute scumbag and those with him handed in to York police to be punished accordingly.

“The guilty person is around 5ft 1 - 5ft 4 tall, with dark hair and wearing, I think, a black Ralph Lauren T shirt.”

He said the incident happened between 3.15 and 3.30am yesterday morning near the Stone Roses bar after he and his friend had visited a Subway shop.

He said a man knocked a Subway out of his hand and he protested, to which a man replied: “What are you going to do about it?”

His friend became involved in an argument and he was then punched in the face, knocking his glasses to the ground. He was then punched a second time from behind, but this time to the side of the head, causing him to fall to the ground and crack his head.

North Yorkshire Police said the force was contacted at 3.50am to reports of a man being injured in a serious assault in Nessgate, York, at about 3.30am

A spokeswoman said the ambulance service attended and treated a 21-year-old man from York for serious head injuries. “He was taken to hospital for treatment,” she said.

“Officers are currently conducting inquiries to determine the circumstances around the incident.”