A CLUBGOER suffered a life-threatening head injury when he was punched to the ground on his way to McDonald’s in Keighley, Bradford Crown Court heard.

He was transferred from Airedale Hospital to Leeds General Infirmary where emergency surgery was carried out to treat a large skull fracture and bleeding on the brain.

The court was told that James Dyminski, the man who struck him, had undergone a personality change that made him unable to control his temper after he was beaten with an iron rod in an unprovoked attack in 2014.

Dyminski, 21, of The Fairways, Keighley, was later assaulted again by the same man and his mother had since been demanding medical help for him. He was given a hospital order by Judge Richard Mansell QC after earlier admitting Section 20 unlawful wounding.

Prosecutor Ayman Khokhar said the victim left K2 Nightclub in Church Street, Keighley, at 4am on September 21 last year after taking a taxi into the town from Saltaire the previous night.

He was walking to McDonald’s with Dyminski, who he did not know, and others when he made a light-hearted remark that caused the defendant to punch him in the face. He fell to the ground on Lawkholme Lane hitting his head on the kerb.

As he lay unresponsive in the street, Dyminski knelt beside him and burst into tears, Mr Khokhar told the court.

Dyminski handed himself into Trafalgar House Police Station in Bradford where he tested positive for cocaine. Psychiatric reports were later prepared.

Mr Khokhar said the victim was aware of the court hearing but did not want to attend or to provide an impact statement.

Dyminski’s solicitor advocate, Julian White, said it was a tragic case.

“He was a hardworking, conscientious and peaceable young man until he was assaulted,’ he stated. “His mother has been tenacious in the extreme to get him some help.”

Judge Mansell said he had read “a heartbreaking letter” from Dyminski's mother saying he had made two attempts on his life after suffering the change in personality. The judge added there was a bed available at the hospital where Dyminski had been treated in recent months.