VICTIM Wes Strawbridge was aggressive and prepared to fight, jurors trying his alleged killers heard yesterday.

Apprentice plumbers Kyle Dolling, 20, of Welland Circle, and Christopher Wood, 18, of Trent Road, both of Bettws, in Newport, both deny the murder of father-of-one Wesley Strawbridge in the city in the early hours of Sunday August 5 last year.

Mr Strawbridge, 25, was allegedly subjected to a vicious and sustained attack outside the Sainsbury's store on Shaftesbury Street at around 4.30am that morning.

Wood is alleged to have punched him to the ground, after which Dolling repeatedly beat him to the head with the branch.

The pair then ran off with two companions.

But the jury heard yesterday that Mr Strawbridge and a group of others chased their alleged attackers before the fatal confrontation took place.

A series of witnesses who were present on the night Mr Strawbridge died described a series of altercations between the late night revellers leading up to Mr Strawbridge's death.

The fighting allegedly began between Dolling, Wood and their companions, and a part-time doorman called Ben Gallagher, who had allegedly thrown Dolling out of a pub earlier that week.

Witnesses described both Dolling and Mr Gallagher as aggressive, although there was no physical violence.

The court heard from those present that Mr Strawbridge - an old friend of Mr Gallagher - had arrived halfway through this incident.

One woman, Megan Santini, said Mr Strawbridge ran at Wood, and head-butted him hard in the face.

She said Strawbridge was "known as quite an aggressive person."

Another witness, Gareth Ivens, 20, told the court that after Dolling had taken up the stick and his group had walked away towards the Old Green Roundabout, Mr Strawbridge had run after them.

He went on to admit that he and a number of others followed them, "to even out the numbers".

Mr Ivens said Ben Gallagher had picked up a traffic cone to use as a weapon, "because they had a weapon" and that he was expecting a fight to ensue.

But he said, before they caught up with Dolling, Wood and their companions, most of the group stopped.

Only Mr Strawbridge ran on - despite his friends urging him to come away.

'His face was covered with blood' - friend Mr Ivens described the shocking moment when, walking home towards Shaftesbury shortly afterwards, he came upon Mr Strawbridge's unconscious body on the pavement - face down, with his head twisted up towards the onlookers.

He said: "His face was covered with blood and he had a gash on his ear."

Mr Strawbridge was later found to have died of blunt force trauma to the head, suffering brain injuries, multiple skull and jaw fractures, fractured cheeks and eye sockets.

Dolling and Wood handed themselves in later that Sunday after hearing Mr Strawbridge was dead.

Proceeding