Three drunken thugs who carried out a “cowardly, violent attack” have been jailed for two years.

Nicholas Pepper, Benjamin Mendez and Mark Verier, all from Thanet, beat up and kicked Lee Delves after he confronted them about their yobbish behaviour outside his home.

Mr Delves, 34, a driver, suffered multiple severe bruising and brain swelling. Following the incident in Herne Bay last November, he began suffering shaking attacks and subsequently had a car accident.

He is receiving on-going tests and is currently unfit to work, Canterbury Crown Court heard.

The three defendants were seen fooling about with cars, running over car tops and shouting in the street, said Denzil Pugh, prosecuting.

Pepper, 24, of Royal Close, Broadstairs; Mendez, 23, of Ethlebert Road, Margate; and Verier, 20, of Gordon Road, Cliftonville, all admitted assault causing actual bodily harm.

Pepper and Mendez will serve their sentences in prison, Verier will go to a young offenders’ institution.

Sentencing them, Judge Michael O’Sullivan said it has been a cowardly and violent attack.

He added that had they been convicted after a trial, the sentences would have been three years.

Mr Delves was on his computer in his flat near Herne Bay seafront when he was aware of the accused outside and went out to confront them.

“They’d had a huge amount to drink and probably been to a Chinese restaurant,” said Mr Pugh.

At one stage, Verier was leaning against Mr Delves’ car. By the time he reached the street, they had moved off towards the seafront and he followed demanding an explanation.

“He was met with violence and driven back by punches. He tried to punch back and took out a torch in an attempt to defend himself. He was driven back into a bollard while Verier jabbed at him with a pair of chopsticks.”

Mr Delves fell and once on the ground, couldn’t give any real account of what happened because he lost consciousness. A number of people who witnessed the attack spoke of him being kicked and hit until the defendants were pulled off him and the police arrived, said Mr Pugh.

Mr Delves staggered home. He didn’t think he needed medical treatment but the following afternoon went to hospital where he was vague about his identification and whether he was married.

When arrested, all the accused were volatile and Pepper spat at the police car window.

Pepper and Mendez said very little in interviews because of the amount they’d drunk but Verier said there had been a confrontation and claimed Mr Delves had swung a punch and they then used violence. He said he’d kicked Mr Delves in the stomach, not the head.

Tanya Robinson, for Pepper, conceded it was a disgraceful incident and said he had made no attempt to minimise his part.

Alcohol was his real problem but he had shown genuine remorse and shock for the injuries and was thoroughly ashamed of himself.

She said it was Pepper’s first offence of violence and he had been assessed at low to medium risk of reoffending. He tended to binge drink when he started drinking and now realised he had a problem.

“He is realistic about the outcome and will have time to reflect and do some much needed growing up,” said Miss Robinson.

Catherine Donnolly, for Mendez, said he also had not tried to minimise his part and since the incident had served a short sentence which had brought about a changed attitude.

He now understood he had a problem with drink and also binged. He had a difficult past having lost a friend and step-brother in an arson attack in Margate. Another brother was badly burned and his baby daughter died in an accident two years ago.

Speaking for Verier, Miss Donnolly described him as a vulnerable young man who suffered with ADHD and was being supported by a number of agencies.

The ADHD impacted on Verier’s behaviour and affected the way he presented himself and he had a very illogical and a more than chaotic way of thinking, said Miss Donnolly.

He had used drugs but his girlfriend had told him to sort himself and Miss Donnolly asked for as short a sentence as possible.