A 'GANGSTER' who ran a man over during a 'despicable' daylight attack in Worcester will be deported to Romania along with his henchmen.

Marius-anton Roman mounted the pavement in his Mercedes in the city's Vincent Road, shattering the shin bone of former friend, Madalin Oanta.

His accomplices - Ionut Tudor, 19, and Cristi-danniel Stefanescu, 20 - then jumped out of the Mercedes and rained down punches and kicks on the clearly injured and by now helpless Mr Oanta in front of horrified onlookers.

Yesterday Roman, 33, was jailed for 10 and half years at Worcester Crown Court for inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent (section 18) on August 2 last year.

Tudor and Stefanescu were both jailed for 17 months for assault occasioning actual bodily harm. All three defendants showed no emotion as the sentences were announced.

The injuries were so severe the victim feared medics would have to amputate his leg.

The trio only pleaded guilty on what would have been the second day of a three to four week trial. Judge Nicholas Cole said: "Each of you is a Romanian national. It's not appropriate for me to make any recommendation because the law provides for automatic deportation of foreign nationals convicted and sentenced to more than 12 months in custody."

Tom Walking, prosecuting, said the 21-year-old victim had only been in the country since July 30, moving to a house in Vincent Road, Worcester.

Roman, who knew the victim from back in Romania, had wanted Mr Oanta to work for him but the injured party 'didn't want to' and told the defendant he was going to get work for himself.

"This refusal made Mr Roman so angry that he drove down to Worcester on the afternoon of August 2 - we say to teach Mr Oanta a lesson" said Mr Walking.

Roman took a number of people with him in two Mercedes cars which travelled down the M5 in convoy from Birmingham. Mr Oanta was waiting on Vincent Road 'alone', leaning against a wall when Roman, who was driving one of the cars, turned into the road.

Mr Walking said: "He described him as looking angry. Mr Roman drove his Mercedes onto the pavement, hitting Mr Oanta in the right leg below the knee, pinning him against the wall and shattering his shin bone."

The other two defendants then jumped out and attacked Mr Oanta, a kickboxer and weight lifter, while he was incapacitated, kicking and punching him as witnesses called out for them to stop.

"They drove away at speed, leaving Mr Oanta on the ground covered in blood" said Mr Walking.

The Mercedes was so badly damaged from the attack that it broke down on the M5 on the way back. By that stage Roman's wife was driving.

The number plates had also been removed 'no doubt to hide its identity' while Roman 'fled to Telford, we say to avoid arrest,' said Mr Walking. He was the last of the three men to be arrested.

Mr Oanta was taken first to Worcestershire Royal Hospital, then to the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch and finally to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham where he required a number of surgeries, complicated when the leg became infected. He was only discharged from hospital on August 26 last year, 24 days after the attack.

The victim's mobile phone was also taken during the attack. A victim impact statement revealed that Mr Oanta had had thoughts of suicide since the attack and could only manage three to four hours sleep a night because of the pain, also fearing that his leg would have to be amputated.

He described the experience as 'horrible' and has been left with scars on his leg which means he no longer wears shorts.

Surgery has involved skin grafts from his other leg. Mr Oanta referred to the pain as 'indescribable' even with painkillers. He suffered a cut to his lip and could not breathe though his nose for two months after the attack.

"I still feel like I'm going crazy and could break down at any time" he said in a victim impact statement.

Roman has convictions in Romania and Spain including for attempted murder, robbery, drugs trafficking, various dishonesty offences and squatting.

The attempted murder at a party in Romania in 2008 involved Roman hitting someone over the head with a wine bottle from behind and later stabbing him in the abdomen. In February 2009 he received a jail sentence of five years for that attack.

The other two defendants had no previous convictions.

Judge Nicholas Cole said it had been the victim's choice what work he wished to do.

Judge Cole told Roman: "You did not respect his decision and chose to act in a way that has all the hallmarks of someone acting as a gangster seeking to punish him for his decision not to work in a job you had arranged."

The judge said the likelihood was that, though things had improved for the victim, he would suffer some ongoing effects.

He accepted that the other two attackers had played a subordinate role but also that it would have been clear to both of them that Mr Oanta was already 'badly injured' when they attacked him.

"This was a despicable attack on an innocent man in broad daylight on the streets of Worcester. Fortunately such attacks are extremely rare" the judge said.

Roman must serve two thirds of his 10 and a half year (126 month) sentence in custody. The other two must serve half the 17 month sentence in custody on half on licence in the community as the judge sentenced them to detention in a young offender institution.

Time spent on remand awaiting sentence will count towards the time served by all three attackers.

All three defendants had lived together in Poplar Road, Smethwick at the time of the assault.