A DOORMAN was left with a broken nose and fractured eye socket after three men attacked him in a bowling alley.

A judge called the assault, which left 24-year-old security guard Ray Bryce hospitalised, a "gratuitous" violent attack which fell into the "top level" of actual bodily harm.

Yesterday, at Derby Crown Court, two of the attackers were given suspended prison sentences and the third jailed for a year over the incident.

The assault took place at Derby Tenpin Bowling, in Sinfin, in May last year.

Marilyn Nair, prosecuting, said Simon Jones, 21, Jamie Walsh, 19, and James Malcolm, 20, had arrived at the bowling alley and had been asked to leave by Mr Bryce.

She said this was because he believed they had been involved in a dispute in the building the previous night.

Miss Nair said: "The duty manager for the area and the bowling alley's manager both asked the three to leave but they refused and said they were not doing anything wrong."

She said Mr Bryce then put one arm around Malcolm's shoulder and began trying to force him out of the building.

Miss Nair said: "After this, Walsh and Jones started to punch Mr Bryce to try and help free Malcolm."

After being hit, Mr Bryce collapsed on the floor. Miss Nair said Jones and Walsh backed away at this point but Malcolm picked up a puck from a nearby air hockey table and threw it at Mr Bryce, striking him on the back of his head.

The three men all admitted causing actual bodily harm.

Judge Andrew Hamilton sentenced Malcolm to 12 months in prison and said throwing the puck was a "mean offence" and an "appalling act to commit".

He gave Jones and Walsh a nine-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, two years' supervision, a four-month curfew and ordered them to complete 200 hours' unpaid work over the next year.

Jones, of Sinfin Lane, Derby, was also ordered to pay £400 compensation, while Walsh, of Baxter Square, Derby, was ordered to pay £200 because he was currently unemployed.

In mitigation, Gregor Purcell said Malcolm, of Kitchener Avenue, Derby, had felt Mr Bryce was being "unfair".

He said: "Malcolm said he had drunk a colossal amount of alcohol that night and struggling to cope with a string of bereavements in his life."

He also said James was still a teenager and had "no pattern of offending".

Michael Evans, for Jones, said his client had acted in "seconds of madness" and told the court he had handed himself in to police afterwards.

After the case, Mr Bryce said that he was content with the sentences the judge had handed out, although would have preferred for them all to have received jail terms.

The doorman, who worked at pubs and clubs in Derby before he was injured, said: "I received substantial injuries and was off work for three months and so lost a lot of money."

Mr Bryce said the attack also meant that he was unable to sit his final law degree exams at Liverpool John Moores University.

"It's been very stressful," he said.