Eye attack pair jailed

The attack happened on a London bus

Two men who took part in a gang attack on a bus that left a man blinded in one eye have each been jailed for four years.

Thomas Jennings, 21, and Wesley Foster, 18, attacked their victim after he objected to them throwing broken biscuits on the No 36 London bus in September 2001.

They left security manager Kenneth Kingsford with his right eyeball gouged out of its socket and blood pouring down his face.

The pair were convicted of violent disorder and inflicting grievous body harm.

I detect not one scrap of pity or remorse from either of you

Judge Robert Prendergast

During the two-week trial, the Inner London Crown court was told that Mr Kingsford came within millimetres of being completely blinded after the attack.

Despite the best efforts of surgeons, his right eye could not be saved and his left eye, which he barely prevented from being plucked out, was left with just 40% vision.

Trapped passengers

Judge Robert Prendergast told Jennings and Foster that the 16 other passengers on the bus who were called as witnesses were still shaking with terror eight months later.

"Several were hit by blows, most of them were hit by torrents of spit that came from you as they were trapped on this bus," he said.

He said the prolonged attack on their victim was due to a thirst for "revenge" for being politely told to stop flicking biscuits.

"I detect not one scrap of pity or remorse from either of you," he said.

Foster, from Brixton, south London and Jennings, from Kilburn, north-west London remained impassive as they were escorted out of court.