A SUNDAY league footballer faces a retrial after his conviction for a vicious attack on a student was quashed.

London's Criminal Appeal Court concluded that the conviction of Richard Gould, 29, of Woodland Close, High Wycombe, was "unsafe" and ordered a retrial on the basis of new evidence.

Gould was jailed for seven years while his team manager Edward George, 37, of Micklefield Road, High Wycombe, was jailed for eight-and-a-half years after being accused of an assault on Gurpal Samra following a party in Farnborough.

Mr Samra's sister Sam Kaur, whose brother was left wheelchair-bound, said the family planned to attend the retrial to see the outcome.

George's appeal, however, was dismissed by Lord Justice Hooper.

During the trial it was alleged that the 26-year-old victim was repeatedly punched, kicked and stamped on as he lay on the ground following a drunken brawl outside Farnborough College of Technology in the early hours of November 17, 2002.

In February 2004 the pair were convicted of causing grievous bodily harm with intent, and George with a second charge of perverting the course of justice, after a two-month trial at Winchester Crown Court.

Six other defendants were cleared during the case and walked free.

The court heard Mr Samra and friends were at an engagement party at the college which was attended by Hazlemere-based side Kingston United FC.

At the end of the night Mr Samra and his friends were involved in a fracas with the members of a team which led to him being attacked, the court was told.

As a result of the attack Mr Samra suffered a shattered spleen, a division of the small bowel and peritonitis as well as blood poisoning and pneumonia.

He was in intensive care for almost a month undergoing intensive resuscitation, and has a colostomy as a result of losing a part of his colon.

During sentencing last year John Jenkins QC, for Gould, who was employed in the IT department of the Free Press, said his client had no previous convictions and added that it would be wrong to hold Gould responsible for the actions of others who had not been identified.