A BRAVE neighbour intervened to stop the merciless beating of Jock Straiton, a court heard.

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said he saw a ‘stocky’ male aged between 17 and 22, kicking and stamping on Jock’s head like he was, ‘trying to burst a balloon’, while a second male kicked him in the ribs.

“He was just lying there face down,” he said. “I don’t know if he had fallen unconscious at that time but there was not a hope in hell he could defend himself.”

Despite the reservations of his partner, he left the flat complex and confronted the pair.

He said: “I shouted at them to leave him alone. I stepped forward not knowing what I was going to do to be honest, it was more of an adrenaline thing.

“They stopped kicking and the taller one came towards me, he was about a foot bigger than me.

“He started pointing his finger saying, ‘I’ll fight you’. I just tried to keep my eyes on his, I wasn’t looking anywhere else.

“Then the second one appeared between the two of us and started telling me not to speak to his friend like that.

“I just put my hands up, said I didn’t want a fight and told them the police had been called and they moved away.”

The neighbour then joined several others in helping Jock, who was lying bloodied and battered on the grass but was still conscious.

“He was not in a good way,” he said. “I shook him gently and asked if he could hear me.

“His eyes were swelling closed and his nose was clearly broken. I started cleaning blood off his face with a tea towel. He wanted to get up, so we helped him into a folding camping chair while we waited for an ambulance.”

The trial continues.