A bouncer told a court how he was beaten with police batons and bitten by a police dog during violence outside a nightclub.

Simon Grimmer said he was struck nine times by officers and bitten on the leg.

He told a jury at Hove Crown Court that he was frightened to turn his back on police in case he was hit again.

He said: "I had just seen my friend Ian Jackson struck on the head and had been hit myself nine times.

"There was no way that I was going to turn my back on those people, they were dangerous."

The confrontation happened outside the Honeyclub on Brighton seafront in the early hours of March 1, last year.

The court heard a group of stag-night revellers from Crawley was involved in clashes with Honeyclub doormen when police were called.

Grimmer, 26, said: "I remember being cracked across the back of the legs from behind and turned round to see someone coming at me with a baton. I didn't know why, I had done nothing to deserve it.

"One officer, PC Lovett, looked as if he was charged up and looking for a fight. I was trying to say to calm down, that there was no need for all this.

"Ian pushed him back away from us and the next thing I remember was PC Egan coming round and striking Ian in the face with his baton.

"I felt someone pushing me down and then baton blows across my shoulders and the back of my neck."

Jackson, 37, of Roffey Close, Horley, and Grimmer, of Abinger Drive, Redhill, deny violent disorder.

The trial continues.