A THUG who knocked out a nurse in a vicious street attack was caught by a photograph on a mobile phone left behind at the scene.

It is thought a well-meaning passer-by put it into the victim’s handbag.

But who dropped the phone into Leanne Gallagher’s pocket remains a mystery.

Two days after the attack, which left her unconscious, Ms Gallagher opened up her bag and came across the phone, which she did not recognise.

She and boyfriend Martin Steadman opened it up and were stunned to find pictures of one of three men who had attacked them.

They contacted the police who knew he was Matthew Lloyd and arrested him.

The incredible story emerged at Southampton Crown Court where the 25-year-old was convicted of causing actual bodily harm and common assault.

Ms Gallagher and Mr Steadman, a plasterer, had been out for an evening on August 12, 2008, leaving Kelly’s nightclub in London Road, Southampton, at about midnight.

Prosecutor Eleanor Fargin said as the couple took shelter by the Varsity pub when it began to rain, two girls walked past and made an abusive remark. He responded by telling them to “leave it out”.

The couple were then confronted by three men. One of them was Lloyd. One of them grabbed the victim by the throat and pushed him up against a wall or a door at the pub. He was punched and kicked while lying on the ground.

Ms Gallagher courageously intervened but was pushed back by Lloyd who with one hand held her by the throat and with the other punched her once in the face.

She fell to the ground unconscious and an ambulance and the police were called to the scene. The contents of her bag were strewn on the ground and someone replaced them – and the mobile phone – in her bag.

Ms Gallagher, who was treated at Southampton General Hospital where she works, said she and her boyfriend were no more than “merry” because both had to work the following day.

Jurors heard she suffered cuts to her forehead and the inside and outside of the corner of her mouth, which together required 15 stitches. She couldn’t remember anything from the moment she was punched until she spoke to staff at the accident and emergency department.

Lloyd, 25, of Wharncliffe Road, was arrested two months later and both victims identified him.

He refused to co-operate with police and did not give evidence in court.

Jurors took three hours to convict him and he was released on bail pending sentence with a warning from Judge Tom Longbotham that he almost certainly faces a prison sentence.

His two accomplices have never been caught. The phone did not belong to Lloyd.

Prosecutors said only that it was registered to “another man”.

See today's Daily Echo for the full story