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The rapper Pa Salieu has been jailed for his part in an attack on a lone victim, shortly after his best friend was fatally stabbed.

Salieu, a BRIT Awards nominee who was named the BBC's Sound of 2021, was jailed for two years and nine months in relation to the attack in Coventry town centre four years ago.

In the early hours of 1 September 2018, a fight broke out near a nightclub which resulted in Salieu's friend Fidel Glasgow, 21, being fatally stabbed - a death over which nobody has faced charges.

Salieu was part of a group of men who chased another man from the scene.

That man, a 23-year-old, was eventually cornered and attacked by the group, and later needed emergency surgery and 10 days of recovery in hospital.

Salieu, 25, admitted violent disorder after being caught on CCTV hitting the victim with a tree branch a number of times.

He was acquitted in March on a second violent disorder charge relating to the earlier brawl that had resulted in the death of Mr Glasgow.

But he was convicted of possessing a bottle as an offensive weapon, telling jurors at Warwick Crown Court that he had smashed and brandished it to defend himself.

'A very unattractive offence'

Salieu's barrister Jonathan Woodcock said Salieu had used a stick rather a tree branch and it was not easy to determine how many blows he had delivered.

"It's a very unattractive offence, of course it is," Mr Woodcock said.

"He is not involved in bringing (the victim) to the floor.

"He does make an effort to keep (another defendant) away - it's to his credit that he does that. He was not party to the most serious aspects of the violence."

'What happened to Fidel could have happened to anyone in that melee'

Judge Peter Cooke told Salieu: "Anyone harbouring the view that you are a young man being hard done by should pause to reflect that despite having a conviction for carrying a knife three years earlier - which resulted in a suspended sentence - in the course of these events you used two bottles and a stick.

"It was your intention to turn a bottle into a jagged weapon."

Judge Cooke said Salieu and others had acted like a "mob", adding: "If you do that somebody is likely to end up seriously injured or dead.

"What happened to Fidel could have happened to anyone in that melee."

'A young man who has already suffered impacts on your career'

He added: "I want you to focus on getting your life back on track... coming out and making the most of your talents, which I trust you will be able to do.

"I have no difficulty in accepting you are a young man who has already suffered impacts on your career by virtue of these proceedings.

"But I observe that it is a career that has flourished nonetheless."

Judge Cooke also said he was taking into account that Salieu had been close to Mr Glasgow, and that he had made "laudable" efforts to help people from disadvantaged backgrounds.