A WHITEFIELD man trained in martial arts went on a cocaine and alcohol fuelled binge where he launched a devastating punch on a stranger - knocking him unconscious and with a bleed on the brain and a broken jaw.

Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court heard Otis Johnson struck Adam Walkden last July in what a judge described as one of the worst “actions of violence” he had witnessed.

The two men, unknown to each other, had both been out in groups when they both entered the Shell garage station on Bury New Road. At the time purchases could only be made outside.

As they waited, Johnson took exception to something a woman in Mr Walkden’s group said.

His response was to walk behind Walkden and launch a devastating punch to his jaw which knocked him to the ground unconscious.

Members of Johnson’s group expressed horror and tried to help.

An ambulance was called but they were told it would be a significant delay so a taxi transported Walkden to hospital.

James Preece, prosecuting, said Mr Walkden suffered a bleed on the brain and was “kept under observation for 48 hours, he was prevented from exerting himself for eight weeks.

“There were two fractures, one on each side of Mr Walkden’s jaw.

“The fractures required two plates being placed internally during an operation.”

The court heard Johnson was identified through CCTV and admitted the assault and told police he was trained in martial arts and had been awake for days under the influence of cocaine and alcohol.

Later Mr Walkden said he was unable to play football and could only eat soft foods.

Johnson, of Frankton Road, Whitefield, who admitted assault, has numerous convictions for violence and was jailed for four years in 2016 for the knifepoint robbery of a taxi driver.

Laura Broome, defending, said Johnson had numerous mental health difficulties.

She said he had a personality disorder and the diagnosis of this “explains a lot to him about his behaviours and thought processes.”

She said it left him with “extreme sensitivity to ridicule and potential ridicule and added “this goes some way to explain why he reacted in a disproportionate way that day.”

She added that Johnson had pleaded guilty at the first opportunity and the attack was “spontaneous and short lived.”

Judge Paul Lawton said he would be failing the public if he gave out anything other than immediate imprisonment.

Jailing Johnson for 30 months, the judge added: “This was one of the most senseless, devastating and gratuitous acts of violence I have ever witnessed in my time as a circuit judge.

"I would be completely failing in my public duty if it were met with anything other than a custodial sentence.”