A 'GANGSTER' claimed he did not intend to run over his friend in Worcester until he had a 'flash of temper', a court was told.

Despite driving to Worcester from Birmingham, Marius-anton Roman denied it was a premeditated attack, arguing he had 'no intention' of mounting the pavement in his Mercedes and mowing the man down until he had a sudden 'flash of temper'.

Roman, 33, was jailed for 10 and a half years at Worcester Crown Court last week for grievous bodily harm with intent in Vincent Road, Worcester on August 2 last year which left the victim, Madalin Oanta, with a shattered shin bone. He required surgery, later developed a serious infection and feared the leg would have to be amputated.

Sailesh Mehta, defending said: "This was not intended, at the outset, to be a violent confrontation but, as Mr Roman saw Mr Oanta, he accepts that there was a flash of temper. Nobody particularly expected that reaction from Mr Roman."

Judge Nicholas Cole, however, expressed 'a degree of scepticism' about this in his sentencing remarks because he and other attackers had driven to Worcester in two cars. As previously reported, two associates of Roman rained down punches and kicks on the injured Mr Oanta. Ionut Tudor, 19, and Cristi-danniel Stefanescu, 20, were jailed for 17 months each. All three are set to be deported.

Prosecutor Tom Walking said in his opening that there was 'certainly some pre-meditation' in the attack.

Laying out the background, Mr Mehta said there had been a close relationship between his client and the victim who had known each other for many years.

He described the 21-year-old victim as 'a physically fit and athletic young man' who had demonstrated prowess at weightlifting and kickboxing.

"He - Mr Oanta - was in the security, in the bodyguard business which, in Romania, is a close-knit with rivalries and jealousies. Mr Roman took Mr Oanta under his wing having at one time been in the same industry. For a significant period of time Mr Oanta lived at Mr Roman's home address in Romania," the advocate said.

He said when Mr Oanta rejected Roman's offer of work the defendant felt what he described as 'the pangs of ingratitude'.

He also said that despite his injuries the prognosis for Mr Oanta was 'relatively good' and that he had been advised by doctors to run on the injured leg

"He accepts the bottle part of incident. He doesn't accept the other part (stabbing to the abdomen). There were a number of people that were involved in the incident."

The initial sentence, he was instructed, was three years for what was charged as attempted murder in Romania but this was increased to five years on appeal.

He added: "In our submission, dangerousness does not arise in the circumstances of this case."