A NIGHT out ended with a group of men brawling in the street and one being hit by a car, a court heard.

James Doble deliberately drove at Khalid Khalid in Cannon Place, Brighton, in the early hours of September 6, 2015, Brighton Crown Court was told yesterday.

Guests in the nearby Hilton Hotel heard the impact, which caused him to fly into the air, over another car and hit the pavement.

Sarah Lindop, prosecuting, said: “They [the guests] looked out of their window and saw what they thought was a dead body.”

She said the case amounted to “two groups of men fighting” in such a way that it would have left any passers-by scared.

The jury needed to decide whether the defendants were acting in self defence or taking part in “wanton violence”, she said.

Lance Harvey-Allison and James Doble were in Shooshh nightclub on Brighton seafront when they met Jaqui Rungay and Roisin Lord.

The four were walking along the seafront in search of somewhere else to drink when they ended up in an altercation with another group of men. The nightclub bouncers stepped in to try and break it up.

The four left and walked back to Doble’s BMW parked on the ground floor of Churchill Square car park but were followed.

As they tried to pay their ticket and leave they were joined by three men at the barrier at around 5am, the court heard.

CCTV showed an altercation breaking out by the barrier and then a fight taking place around a car in the nearby street. The car sped off and men were seen running along the road. Mr Khalid is seen chasing Harvey-Allison before he is hit by Doble, Ms Lindop said.

Witness Miss Rungay, giving evidence, said it all started when a group of "black young men" approached them after leaving the nightclub and started making "digs" like "What are you looking at?"

She said the four - her, Miss Lord, Harvey-Allison and Doble - kept walking and then one of the boys punched Doble in the face.

She told the court how she and Miss Lord sat in the car during the second incident while the men brawled all around them.

She even tried to drive the car away from the scene but could not get it to move and at one point was pulled from the car by one of the other men, the court heard.

She said: “I wouldn’t say I was drunk, I was tipsy. I just remember really crying. I was really scared. I remember seeing one boy on the floor before getting back in the car.”

She said after the fracas and back in the car with Harvey-Allison and Doble “they were talking about the boy on the floor in the road. James was telling Lance that he ran him over”.

Harvey-Allison, 30, of Waldronhyrst, South Croydon; Suleman Ahmed, 32, of Orde Hall Street, London; Mohamed Jama, 22, of St Edmund’s Terrace, London; Abdulkadir Siyaad, 23, of Cromer Street, London; and Doble, 31, of Little Common Lane, Bletchingley, Redhill, all deny affray.

Doble is also charged with causing grievous bodily harm with intent and Ahmed with a separate count of affray.

The jury was told a sixth man, Gure Mohamed, 21, of York Rise, London, pleaded guilty to his involvement in the fighting.

The trial, expected to last two weeks, continues.