Two brothers have been jailed over an attack that left a man in intensive care.

Ashley Hoolighan, aged 26, and Scott Hoolighan, aged 27, both of Parr Lane, Unsworth, were jailed at Bolton Crown Court today.

Ashley was jailed for two years and Scott was also jailed for two years.

They pleaded guilty to section 20 assault (causing grievous bodily harm) at an earlier hearing.

A 38-year-old man went to a pub on Bury New Road, Whitefield, for a drink with friends at 8pm on Wednesday June 23.

He sat down in the beer garden with a woman and man and almost immediately some men started arguing with the group about a dispute from 2008, which had nothing to do with the victim or the Hoolighans.

Ashley Hoolighan grabbed the man by the throat and pushed him up against a wall.

The victim and his friends walked out of the beer garden and on to Bury New Road to get away from the confrontation.

The Hoolighans chased them, the 38-year-old was knocked to the ground and kicked, punched and stamped on.

He suffered a fractured skull, which led to a massive bleed and swelling to his brain and he spent several weeks in intensive care. He is still recovering from his injuries.

Detective Constable Ian Smith, based at Bury CID, said: "This argument stemmed from a dispute that should have been long-forgotten between two other people and did not involve the Hoolighan brothers.

"They drunkenly decided to make it their business and by doing so assaulted an innocent man, who now has some horrible injuries to try and overcome.

"Today's result should be a lesson to anyone that violence is not acceptable in pubs, on our streets and in fact anywhere within Greater Manchester."