A MAN who put his neighbour and friend in a coma when he attacked him during a drinking session has been jailed for two and a half years.

Bolton Crown Court heard how Matthew Hart repeatedly banged James Hollingworth’s head on the floor, threatening to kill him and his victim, who is epileptic, was in coma for several days after having emergency surgery to deal with a blood clot on his brain. Nigel Booth, prosecuting, told the court how, on February 25, Mr Hollingworth and Hart, who lived in neighbouring flats on Deane Church Lane, Bolton, had been drinking in Mr Hollingworth’s flat with their partners when the two men got into an argument after Hart was called a pervert.

Hart grabbed Mr Hollingworth, throwing him against the wall then on to the floor where he banged his head on the floor until he lost consciousness.

Hart later said he ‘deeply regretted’ his actions as he regarded Mr Hollingworth as a friend.

He pleaded guilty to inflicting grievous bodily harm.

Kimberley Morton, defending, said 38- year-old Hart, who had been smoking crack cocaine, had no convictions for violence and the incident was out of character.

Sentencing him, Recorder Andrew Long told Hart: “This was a sustained assault. You used the floor as a weapon.”