A CHAMPION boxer has gone on trial accused of attempting to murder a man during a brutal gang attack in Port Glasgow.

An eyewitness told the High Court in Glasgow how she thought her friend had died as Grant Quigley, 17, repeatedly jumped and stamped on his head during the alleged assault on a roundabout near to Tesco in Brown Street.

Quigley, of Hillside Drive, Port Glasgow, appeared alongside 18-year-olds Michael Murray and Lee Doherty, who are also charged with attempted murder.

The court was played CCTV footage of the incident which showed three men, identified as the three accused, approaching a girl and man as they left the supermarket having come from a nearby party to buy food.

The teenager, 17, claimed that the trio called her and her friend over, with Quigley asking if he was 'part of the Young Port Team'.

She said: "He told Grant he wasn't and an argument started.

"Lee Doherty grabbed my phone, smashed it and pushed me to the ground.

"I tried to gather my things and I saw they had backed my friend on to the roundabout." The witness told how she saw Murray and Quigley attack the man, but identified Quigley as the main culprit.

She said: "They were stamping all over his head. I shouted at them to stop but they didn't." The girl sobbed as she was shown footage of the incident, captured by a Tesco security guard on cameras monitoring the outside of the store.

She added: "I was in total shock as it happened.

"A taxi stopped but it was chased away. I saw my friend lying on the ground. I thought he was dead." The horrifying footage, lasting around seven minutes, was played several times to the jury at the High Court in Glasgow.

It showed a man, alleged to be Quigley, jumping and stamping on the victim's head eight times, returning to continue the attack despite being dragged away by co-accused Doherty on three separate occasions.

Solicitors Aidan Gallagher and Gerry Keenan have instructed QCs Thomas Ross and Joe Barr to appear on behalf of Doherty and Quigley.

Mr Ross asked the girl if she believed the outcome of the incident could have been worse if Doherty hadn't intervened to pull Quigley away.

He said: "Lee actually stopped the assault did he not?" She replied: "Yes." Quigley, who is a two-time British and four-time Scottish boxing champion, represented his country at the prestigious Commonwealth Youth Games in the Isle of Man last year, where he won a silver medal.

He is accused of leaving the man permanently disfigured, permanently impaired and severely injured after attempting to murder him during the sustained attack.

All three accused are alleged to have assaulted the man by attempting to punch him and forcing him on to the roundabout at Brown Street, before repeatedly punching and kicking him on the head and body, causing him to fall to the ground on 20 November last year.

The trio are charged with repeatedly punching and kicking him for a second time before repeatedly jumping and stamping on his head and body, all to his severe injury and to the danger of the man's life.

Their alleged actions are said to have been in an attempt to murder the man.

Quigley, Murray, of Benview Road, Port Glasgow, and Doherty, of St Mary's Wynd, Stirling, all deny the charges against them.

The trial before judge Lord Glennie continues.