Aqab Hussain, 21, was already disqualified from driving when he ploughed into a group of friends after a spat in Manchester

A disqualified driver who left a father of three unable to walk or talk after using his car as a weapon in a revenge attack has been jailed for 20 years.

Aqab Hussain, 21, was already banned from the roads when he ploughed into a group of friends after a minor spat outside a club in Manchester city centre in the early hours of 21 August last year.

CCTV footage of the attack showed one man knocked to the pavement, another catapulted over the roof of the Vauxhall Corsa and a third carried down the street before Hussain swerved to dislodge him from the bonnet.

Michael Ward, 29, who has children aged six, four and one, was thrown over the car roof and left with catastrophic head injuries. He now cannot talk, feed himself or play any part in family life, Manchester crown court heard.

Ward was partially sighted and had to be helped to cross roads and get upstairs before he was injured in the incident.

Hussain, himself a father of three, denied being the driver but was found guilty by a jury of four counts of attempted murder after a trial last month. On Thursday, he was given a 20-year jail term.

He had flouted court orders for previous convictions for dangerous driving and was serving a ban at the time of the offence.

Passing sentence, judge Robert Atherton said it was fortunate Ward did not die in the attack.

"He was very, very seriously injured. He will never recover, he will never be able to enjoy his family," he said.

"One witness described the scene as being like someone bowling at skittles and people being flung like skittles to the side. Why you did it is extremely difficult to understand."

Outside court, Ward's wife of seven years, Mary Rose Ward, said: "What he did to my husband, you wouldn't do it to an animal really, would you?

"My husband was never a violent person and I am not a violent person, but he should not have done what he did."

Mrs Ward said her blind husband was still receiving full-time care in a rehabilitation centre but that she cares for him during the day before going home to look after their children, daughters Montana, six, and Crystal, four, and son Michael, aged one.

"He can't play with the kids or anything. He can't talk, he can't walk, he can't wash himself or feed himself, he has no memory. I'm his wife and I will care for him for the rest of my life because he is my husband.

"He knows he was in a car accident and I try and explain but he doesn't really understand."

She said their six-year-old had asked her: "Why did they do it to my daddy?" and that Michael was only two months old when her husband was attacked.

"I have to try and get on with my life. You've got to cope, don't you, and take things day by day. My husband will have to stick this for the rest of his life and he [Hussain] will be out in 20 years."