A BOUNCER from Whitefield has pleaded guilty to his role in an attack which left a rugby league starlet with permanent hearing loss.

Javad Yousefi-Solimanbolagh, 24, of Higher Lane, was one of seven former doormen from the Factory 251 club, involved in the attack on St Helens RLFC youth player Joe Sharratt, Manchester Crown Court heard.

The victim, then aged 18, suffered serious injuries after being set upon outside the Princess Street venue on December 2, 2018.

Sharratt was reported to have been left with a bleed on the brain at the time.

Prosecutor, Hugh McKee showed the court footage of the incident compiled from various CCTV images and mobile phone videos taken by eyewitnesses.

The footage showed Mr Sharratt and his friend Leo Cooper getting involved in a dispute with bouncers outside the Factory club before a brawl broke out.

Mr McKee said: “There was a verbal argument that quickly ended violently. But it was what happened on the road [Princess Street] which made it unlawful.”

He added that punches were first thrown by Solimanbolagh.

As the violence escalated another bouncer, Gareth Carr, was said to deliver a blow that sent Mr Sharratt to the ground and left him lying in the stree unconscious.

The court heard that Mr Sharratt was then helped by a doorman from a neighbouring premises, while a female member of staff from the Factory club told members of the public not to film the incident.

As a result of his injuries Mr Sharrat has been left with “complete and permanent hearing loss in his left ear, with tinnitus”, said Mr McKee.

He was also unable to drive for six weeks and could not attend his part-time job.

However he has been given the all clear to return to playing rugby, but must avoid being knocked unconscious, Mr McKee added.

“Remarkably, Mr Cooper had no need for treatment,” Mr McKee added.

At the hearing today, Carr, of Denbigh Road, Denton, pleaded guilty to assault occasioning grievous bodily harm and affray.

Mohammed Saleem of Kingsway, Manchester, also pleaded guilty to affray, while Judge Suzanne Goddard QC ordered that the charges against Mohammed Abdullah, of Golborne Avenue, Manchester, should lie on file.

Lee Clark, 42, of Epson Avenue, Sale, Imran Ilyas, 41, of Gainsborough Avenue, Oldham, and Amjad Yasin, 28, of Latimer Street, Oldham, had also pleaded guilty to affray charges at previous hearings.

All the defendants will be sentenced at the next hearing on March 30.

Sharratt looks to have been given a route back into professional rugby league with League One side Barrow Raiders.