A SIX-year jail sentence has been handed to a drunken thug who carried out a "savage" and unprovoked attack in Carlisle on one of his friends, leaving him with life-threatening injuries.

Vitalijus Gerve’s extreme violence left the victim so seriously injured that he spent two weeks in intensive care.

The man’s life was saved by an emergency tracheotomy.

At Carlisle Crown Court, 30-year-old Gerve was sentenced after he pleaded guilty to maliciously wounding the man with intent to cause him grievous bodily harm.

Prosecutor Brendan Burke described how the defendant had been drinking and socialising at a house in Fusehill Street in Carlisle on May 2 last year, where the victim and his girlfriend were also present.

For no obvious reason, Gerve walked into the man’s bedroom, where he was lying on the bed, grabbed him by the throat, and then repeatedly punched him with force.

The defendant followed this up by kicking and stamping on the victim as he lay helpless and bleeding.

The man’s partner called the police and the victim was rushed to The Cumberland Infirmary for emergency treatment, which saved his life. He suffered “significant” injuries, the court heard.

They included a fractured eye socket, and a broken thoracic cartilage in his neck, which had it not been immediately treated could have proved fatal. He also lost multiple teeth and suffered multiple rib displacements.

In a victim impact statement, the man later said: “This man has ruined my life; the assault has ruined my life and my health.” He said he was no longer able to work and was still in pain.

Nor did he any longer feel safe leaving his home alone, added the man.

Andrew Gurney, defending, told the court: “The defendant has always accepted his guilt. He made admissions to the police during his interview.”

A Lituainian national, who had been living and working in the UK for six years, Gerve said that he had previously been a “good friend” of the man he attacked and there was no animosity.

He said he had previously witnessed “heated arguments” between the victim and his partner but never intervened. On the day of the assault, he heard another argument.

The group had been drinking excessively for two days and his alcohol consumption had affected his memory. “But his recollection,” said the lawyer, “is that he went to the bedroom, and grabbed the [victim] and with one hand around his throat and with force.

“They were on the bed and he struck him repeatedly on his face.”

What happened was out of character, said Mr Gurney, adding: “He is truly remorseful for this entire incident and for all the pain and suffering he has caused the complainant… He wishes to take steps to prevent anything like this happening again.

“He instructs me that he will never consume alcohol again.”

Recorder Andrew Nuttall told Gerve: “You went into that room and in an unprovoked attack with no apparent reason whatsoever you proceeded to beat the victim in the most savage way.”

The Recorder said he had seen photographs of the victim’s injuries. “It is said that without medical attention the victim would have died.”

The judge noted also how Gerve, who formerly lived at Trafalgar Street in Denton Holme, had fled to Cheshire at one point during his prosecution in breach of his bail conditions.

Though accepting that the attack was “wholly out of character,” the judge jailed the defendant for six years.