REVENGE was the motive behind a machete attack that left a man bleeding and mutilated in a pub car park, a court heard yesterday.

Simon Baxter, 29, suffered severe injuries in the attack, including an 8in-deep stab wound when the machete entered his buttocks.

The attack happened at about 5pm on Wednesday, November 27.

John Joseph Brown, 31, and Vincent Murray, 24, both of Stanley, County Durham, are alleged to have charged into the Green Hat pub in Upton, near Pontefract, West Yorkshire, armed with a machete and butcher's knives.

The prosecution claimed they chased Mr Baxter into the car park where he was assaulted and suffered several blows to the head, his right elbow and stab wounds to the chest.

"They mutilated me in that car park," Mr Baxter said. "They are animals."

Mr Baxter said pub regulars saved his life by staunching his bleeding with beer mats before fetching a doctor.

He also told how he required psychiatric treatment to deal with the trauma of the attack.

Jonathan Devlin, prosecuting, said the attack ceased only when two women who had been drinking in the pub threw themselves over Mr Baxter, acting as a human shield.

Mr Devlin said that Mr Brown's attack had been so frenzied that he had hit his friend, Mr Murray, on the leg.

Leeds Crown Court heard how the maiming was carried out in revenge for an attack on Mr Brown, in Upton, three nights earlier.

The court heard that regulars at the Green Hat responded to a distress call from Mr Brown's girlfriend, Toni Brown, who lives in Upton.

The gang, which included Mr Baxter, found Mr Brown kicking a car in the street. Several of them grabbed him and pinned him to the ground. He was then slashed across the face and neck with a Stanley knife, injuries that required more than 60 metal staples.

Duncan Smith, defending Mr Brown, told the jury that he had gone unarmed to the pub after being lured there by friends of his girlfriend.

Mr Smith claimed Mr Baxter was responsible for slashing Mr Brown and had planned an ambush at the pub to finish him off.

The court heard how Mr Baxter, who had been drinking for several hours, had bragged that he was armed with a meat cleaver, a claim backed up by a second witness, Kimberley McArthur, a friend of Mr Baxter, who testified she had seen weapons in the pub before Mr Brown arrived.

Mr Brown and Mr Murray deny charges of attempted murder and wounding with intent.

The case continues.