A barman accused of causing brain damage to a man who was hit by his car said one of the victim's group had been looking at his girlfriend's bottom.

Nathan Rutter, 20, told the police that trouble broke out at a late night kebab shop in Mill End and ended when staff intervened.

In a police interview read to St Albans Crown Court on Friday, Rutter said he had left his job at the White Horse pub in Chorleywood early that night because he was angry with the chef.

He picked up his girlfriend from a party in Bovingdon and they went to the Kebab Centre in Uxbridge Road. She went inside first while he urinated outside. When he walked in he heard one of a group of four men from Aberdeen say: "No she's got a boyfriend."

Rutter replied: "Yeah too right. She's got a boyfriend."

He went on: "As we went to walk out. One stared at her arse. I said: 'Yes I am her boyfriend.'"

Outside the shop he said punches were thrown and his shirt was ripped. He was hit above his right eye and stumbled to the ground. The trouble was broken up by a man from the shop.

Rutter said he was given a cigarette to calm down and after that drove off with his girlfriend. He said: "The lads were walking the way I had to go home. I was still really wound up. I had my music on. I just came past to scare them. I didn't mean to hit any of them."

The prosecution allege Rutter was "almost blind with rage" when his black Astra struck Michael Robb, causing him "enduring brain damage".

The car clipped his friend Michael Wilson, before striking Michael Robb, who hit the windscreen. He suffered bleeding to the brain and a fractured skull.

Pressure built up on his brain and he suffered blood clots, which had to be relieved by a craniotomy. He was in intensive care for eight days. He was first treated in St Mary's Hospital Paddington, London for a week before being transferred to St Andrew's Royal Infirmary in Aberdeen and then was moved to a rehabilitation centre.

A report on his condition in July this year said he was receiving help at a specialist centre for slurred speech and was given therapy to help him walk and build up his strength. He has suffered memory problems, his spelling has deteriorated and he has lost 70 per cent of the hearing in his right ear.

Mr Robb and his friends had travelled down to watch the football match between Watford and Leeds on May 4 this year. They had been drinking in Watford town centre before going on to a bar in Rickmansworth, where they were staying.

Prosecutor Michael Speak said he can remember nothing about what happened after playing pool in Rickmansworth.

The prosecutor told the jury of eight men and four women that the collision happened near a bus shelter on the A412 Uxbridge Road just after midnight.

"Michael Robb was with three friends when Mr Rutter drove his car, entirely deliberately, into this group of people. He hit Mr Robb squarely and that resulted in him sustaining brain injuries which have had an enduring effect on him.

"The defendant had driven his car on the wrong side of the road and up onto the pavement. It was his intention to drive his vehicle at those people," said Mr Speak.

Rutter, of Longlees, Maple Cross, pleads not guilty to the attempted murder of Michael Robb and an alternative charged of causing grievous bodily harm with intent. The jury was told he has pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and to causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

Case proceeding.