Student attacked for not wearing pirate or 118 man outfit

Johan, left, with a university pal wearing traditional student attire

A student was beaten ‘like a rotting goldfish being hammered against a wall’ for wearing normal clothes on a city centre night out.

Johan Gibside, 20, was kicked and punched by a horde of yobs for failing to don the regulation pirate or 118 man garb worn by all fun-seeking undergraduates.

CCTV footage shows the Sheffield University psychology student being taunted by a gang for sporting jeans and a shirt. Johan’s attackers then daubed a moustache on his upper lip with a permanent marker pen and etched the number ’118′ into his chest before savagely beating him.

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A police spokesman said Gibside had sustained horrific injuries. “He looked as if he’d been kicked in the plums by a donkey. His face was smashed up like someone had taken a sledgehammer to a blancmange.

“His body was so battered it looked like a rotten goldfish that had been hammered against a wall in some kind of mercy killing.”

Pc Sheryl Cool adding this warning for students: “They need to think carefully before dressing for a night out.

“This young man wore jeans and a shirt. Next to his fellow student revellers he stuck out like a sore thumb.”

On the night of the attack most of Gibside’s pals were wearing running vests and a moustache in homage to unfunny TV ad characters, the 118 men.

Gibside was unavailable to comment, but his parents – Arnold and Marie of Gateshead – were devastated by the ordeal. The couple had warned their son he was in danger of paying the penalty for repeatedly expressing his individuality.

“He’s always been different,” said Marie, 56, “We warned him against dressing like a regular person at university.”

Father Arnold, 62 added: “We told him that if he insisted on deviating from the normal student gear he’d wind up getting sparked.

“Why couldn’t he have been like the others? I told him that he could still be different and hilarious. I even showed him how to make a toga out of a bedsheet. But he was having none of it.”

Gibside was released from Sheffield General Hospital last night and is expected to make a full recovery.