A Llanybydder Army corporal who beat a taxi driver so viciously he spent two months in a coma and was left with long-term brain damage, has been jailed for nine years.

Steffan Rhys Wilson, 26, punched Noby James, 43, in the head and continued the attack after the cabbie was laid out cold and “soaked” in blood.

The victim had got out of his taxi in a remote spot after the drunken Iraq veteran, who was sitting in the front passenger seat, pulled the handbrake three times.

The unprovoked attack in the early hours of 1 December last year near Northallerton, North Yorkshire, left Mr James in a coma for two months fighting for his life.

Leeds Crown Court heard on Tuesday how the drunken soldier’s “sustained and prolonged” assault left Mr James with life-threatening injuries including a brain haemorrhage.

Mr James also suffered broken facial bones including his eye sockets, damage to his windpipe, a badly swollen nose and lip, and had teeth knocked out during the attack.

During the “terrifying” assault, Mr James managed to call 999 and begged the operator to send help while Wilson was heard shouting in the background.

The court heard how Wilson had continued beating Mr James “well after he lost consciousness” which left him “virtually unrecognisable”.

Following his arrest, he told officers he was just “protecting his country”.

Wilson, of Llanybydder, denied attempted murder and a trial was due to start on Monday. But he pleaded guilty to an alternative charge of causing grievous bodily harm with intent before it could begin.

The judge recorded a formal not-guilty verdict on the attempted murder charge.

Wilson, who the court heard was a “very talented” rugby player who had starred in and coached the Army team, was jailed for nine years and nine months.

Judge Guy Kearl QC told Wilson: “Anyone who wonders how Mr James felt in the moments leading up to the assault need only listen to the 999 call when, terrified, he was panicking about what you were going to do to him and screaming for assistance. He was right to fear for his life.

“This was an unprovoked attack upon a person who was just doing his job. You held him down by the neck and struck him repeatedly as he lay unconscious on the ground.

“He did not recover his consciousness for over a month. His rehabilitation will be a long one.”

In the hours leading up to the attack, Wilson had been out drinking with friends in Northallerton. He got so drunk he began staggering around the road outside Club Amadeus, the court heard.

He eventually got into a taxi at about 3am with a couple who said he was drunk but “okay” before they were dropped off at their home.

Mr James was driving Wilson back to his barracks when the soldier’s behaviour suddenly turned “strange and sinister”.

After he pulled the handbrake for the third time, Mr James stopped the car in an isolated spot and got out to call the police, the court heard.

Prosecutor Michael Smith told the court how the soldier, who was described as a “leader of men”, told Mr James that he would shoot him if he had a gun.

He told the court that the last thing Mr James recalled was being struck to the head and being laid on the ground.

Mr Smith added: “The next thing he remembers is waking up in hospital 35 days later.”

By the time police arrived at the scene on the A6055, Wilson was laid on top of Mr James at the side of the road.

Mr James was struggling to breathe, bleeding heavily and barely conscious.

Wilson, of the Royal Engineers based at Catterick Garrison, North Yorkshire, was described as “out of control” and charged at officers who called for back-up as they struggled to take him to ground.

Body-cam footage showed officers struggling to apprehend Wilson as he fought them off.

Wilson was finally brought under control and Mr James, a family man of Asian origin, was airlifted to James Cook Hospital in Middlesbrough and was taken into intensive care.

Simon Kealey QC, defending Wilson, said his client had been a highly regarded military man and “leader of men” with a “bright future ahead of him” before the terrible incident.

He said: “He was the youngest recruit to be nominated for promotion and was originally promoted to lance corporal and then corporal.

“He’s a very talented rugby player described as one of the best the army rugby team had produced. That dazzling future now lies in ruins.”