FRIENDS of a teenager seriously injured during an attack in Witney say they are overwhelmed and shocked.

Jamie Busby, 19, from Aston, was left with serious head injuries after an incident in Corn Street at 1.20am on Saturday.

Friends said the former Henry Box School pupil was last night still in a coma in Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital and had required surgery to relieve pressure on his brain.

Police were last night unable to confirm his condition.

Get-well messages from friends have been flooding in on his Facebook page.

Close friend Jonah Miles-Collett, 18, said: “No one knows how to feel. We are all upset and angry this has happened.

“Writing on Facebook is probably the best way people can let Jamie’s family know we are thinking about him and waiting to hear how he is doing.

“Jamie is the sort of person that this kind of thing shouldn’t happen to.

“It’s just overwhelming.”

The incident took place outside the USA Fried Chicken fast food outlet. The road was cordoned off afterwards while police investigated the incident.

A 22-year-old woman was arrested and given a caution for a public-order offence and a 23-year-old man was cautioned for common assault.

A 24-year-old man, arrested on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm, was bailed by police until tomorrow.

Mr Miles-Collett said: “I went along there when I heard, in the early hours of Saturday morning, and there was a lot of blood on the pavement. You hear about these kind of things in Oxford and big cities, but you don’t expect it in Witney. Jamie is on a ventilator, he is being kept in a coma with a broken jaw, nose and cheekbone and we just want him to get well.

“He didn’t deserve that.”

Friends have left dozens of get-well messages on his Facebook wall and updated their own with prayers and messages.

Friend Andy Simms said: “Massive prayer to Jamie Busby’s family. Spent last night at the hospital and as always he’s being an absolute trouper (sic).”

And Jonjo Williams wrote: “My thoughts and many others are with Jamie Busby. Hope you make a swift recovery.”

Mr Busby works at Fat Lil’s bar in Corn Street and at GSM Industrial Graphics in Witney.