HE was caught by a photograph on a mobile phone left behind at the scene of his vicious street attack.

At Winchester Crown Court yesterday Matthew Lloyd was jailed for two-and-a-half years after beating a nurse unconscious.

Lloyd knocked Leanne Gallagher out when he punched her in the head outside a Southampton nightclub.

Her boyfriend Martin Steadman was also attacked.

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But two days later, the theatre nurse opened her bag and came across a phone, which she did not recognise. When the pair investigated, the mobile contained photos of one of three men who had attacked them.

It is thought that a well-meaning passer-by put the phone with the picture clue in her bag after the incident, but their identity remains a mystery.

Lloyd, of Wharncliffe Road, was arrested two months later.

His two accomplices have never been caught.

After a trial at Southampton Crown Court, Lloyd was convicted of actual bodily harm and common assault.

Ms Gallagher and Mr Steadman, a plasterer, had been out for an evening in August 2008 when it began to rain. As they sheltered, 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 and Mr Steadman was punched and kicked while lying on the ground.

Ms Gallagher tried to intervene but was held by the throat and punched once in the face, needing 15 stitches.

The contents of her bag were strewn on the ground and someone replaced them – and the mobile phone – in her bag.

The court heard Lloyd, 25, had struggled to cope with drink and drugs and that he was looking to take his English and Maths GCSE examinations.

Judge Tom Longbotham said Lloyd had already been before the courts 12 times for 29 offences, including dangerous driving and racially aggravated harassment.