A north Wales man who left another with serious brain damage after felling him to the ground with a wooden stave failed to win a cut in his nine-year prison sentence at London's Criminal Appeal Court.

Paul Kenneth Polhill, 34, pounded victim Colin Hough as he lay helpless on the ground outside the Cross Keys pub in Connah's Quay, Deeside, the court heard.

Dismissing Polhill's appeal against sentence, Mr Justice Tucker said the attack stemmed from an earlier fracas inside the pub involving Polhill and several friends and another group of young men, including the victim.

Mr Hough and his friends eventually left the pub after the trouble appeared to die down.

'Lying in wait'

But on emerging they found Polhill and his associates "lying in wait" for them in the pub car park, armed with wooden staves and "items resembling baseball bats".

Mr Justice Tucker told the court: "Polhill struck the victim with a wooden stave on a number of occasions, causing him to fall to the ground, then hit him again and again while on the ground with the stave.

"The result was that Mr Hough sustained severe fractures to the face and contusions to the brain which have left him with brain damage such that he is unlikely to be able to return to his previous employment again."

'Severe'

Polhill, of Church Street, Connah's Quay, was convicted of causing grievous bodily harm with intent, and violent disorder at Chester Crown Court on 18 November after a 13-day trial.

Mr Justice Tucker said the nine-year sentence was "undoubtedly severe".

But the judge, sitting with the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Bingham, and Mrs Justice Hallett, concluded: "For the premeditated and persistent attack we have described we don't consider that nine years can be considered wrong in principle or manifestly excessive."