A drunk, tripping clubber who toppled from a balcony and fell on to a dancefloor, paralysing a woman for life was sentenced to two years imprisonment today for inflicting grievous bodily harm.

Philip Brady, of Maida Vale, West London, was jailed at Guildhall Crown Court despite repeatedly apologising for ruining the life of Lorraine Mack.

Brady, 24, insisted that his fall, which came at the end of a long night of partying on his birthday, was an accident.

But the jury, which was told he had downed seven pints of lager, a bottle of beer, a vodka and coke and three ecstasy tablets before attempting to balance on a railing inside Pacha's nightclub in Central London, unanimously returned a guilty verdict.

Brady, who weighs 15-and-a-half stone, looked shocked when Judge Ian Karsten, QC, told him he would be sent to prison for the "extremely dangerous" behaviour.

"You decided you would perch on top of the railing which overhung the dance floor and bar at Pacha’s in Victoria in order to rest your feet," the judge told him.

"Not surprisingly in your intoxicated condition you fell off towards the floor below. The tragedy is you fell on a young woman who was standing below with her boyfriend having a glass of wine.

"The consequences for Lorraine Mack have been catastrophic. You broke her neck. She was instantly paralysed and she is now in a permanent state of complete tetraplegia."

"She can’t move any of her limbs... and the consultant surgeon who reported on her condition described how she would never be safe on her own again and would always require one person with her," said Judge Karsten, adding that Miss Mack, who is 30, will need constant care for the next 30 to 40 years.

"The knowledge that you did this to another human being is something you will have to live with for the rest of your life," he said. "But Lorraine Mack is fully aware of her condition and of what she was robbed of as a result of your act."

The court was shown an "impact video", filmed 10 months after the fall in March 2004. In the video, Miss Mack said the woman she had once been was effectively dead. Miss Mack said that she had been transformed from a "very outgoing, very bubbly" woman to a patient who takes 17 tablets a day.

After receiving his sentence, Brady, a former trainee surveyor with previous convictions for drink driving and theft, blew a kiss to his family as he was ushered to the cells by dock officers.

Outside court, Miss Mack’s brother, Tony, said: "We are very pleased with the verdict."

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