THREE men have been convicted of a vicious attack on a Dubai student who was studying in the Scottish capital.

Victim Arun Nair, 21, suffered life-threatening head injuries after he was punched, kicked and struck repeatedly with a metal baton in the Dalry area of Edinburgh in April last year.

The attack was so severe that Mr Nair was forced to miss his exams at Edinburgh University.

After the incident, one of the accused uttered racial abuse about Mr Nair to police officers.

Danny McCann, 23, Aiden O'Reilly, 23, and Liam Gartland, 27, admitted assaulting Mr Nair to his severe injury and to the danger of his life while acting with others at the High Court in Livingston. They were originally charged with racially aggravated attempted murder.

The assault took place after Mr Nair had spent the evening at a university friend's flat on April 6 2014.

He had played board games, enjoyed a take-away meal and a modest amount of alcohol before leaving just after 1am to walk home with fellow United Arab Emirates students Charlton Dsa, 20 and Devika Tushar, 21.

Once outside, a drunk man started shouting abuse at them, calling them: "You brown faggots."

Mr Keenan said Mr Nair was annoyed, particularly because Miss Tushar was with them, and swore at the man.

He said the abusive male pressed the door buzzer for one of the flats and four or five young men, including the three accused, ran out.

Miss Thushar fearing a fight hid behind a parked car as the men launched a concerted attack on Mr Nair, knocking him to the ground and repeatedly punching and kicking him on the head and body.

Two of the men chased Mr Dsa, who managed to escape and call the police. A local resident said she was Mr Nair being struck with a metal pole.

Mr Nair managed to get to his feet and, despite being disorientated and staggering about, started to walk alone towards Dalry Road.

He was pursued by four members of the gang, including Gartland.

Mr Keenan told the court the group caught up with Mr Nair a short distance along the road and started punching him. When he was found by his friends, the victim was covered in blood, could not open an eye and was described as 'frantic.'

The court heard McCann told police after the incident: "Paki b******s, Scotland and the whole of the UK are overrun by them and also there is blood, it is probably from that Paki b*****d."

Following the attack, Mr Nair was detained in hospital for observation on two separate occasions with symptoms including worsening headaches, nausea and vomiting.

Advocate depute John Keenan told the court that when the A-Grade civil engineering student was discharged, he expressed a wish to return to his home city, where his father is a doctor.

Mr Keenan told the court: "Mr Nair reports that he was not able to study, do anything to strain his head or drive until July 2014.

"He was not able to walk for about a fortnight after the attack and had unbearable pain in his hamstrings.

"He spent a total of 18 days in hospital and could not eat or drink because he kept throwing up.

"He was unable to sit his third year exams with the rest of his class in May/June 2014. Instead he had to sit his exams at the resits."

He described Mr Nair's injuries as being consistent with having been struck by a pole to the head. He added they were potentially life-threatening.

The court heard OReilly had admitted acting in a racially aggravated manner two months before the attack.

The trio were remanded in custody for background reports ahead of sentencing.