Men jailed for 'repugnant' attack

The unprovoked attack left Stephen Swallow unrecognisable

Two men who admitted beating a Lincoln man in the face with a wooden plank in a "repugnant" attack have been jailed.

Steven Swallow, 43, had several bones in his face badly smashed in the assault in Lincoln city centre in June.

Stuart Kisby, 18, of Penrose Close, and Darren Wheeler, 19, who lived at the YMCA, had been drinking heavily before the attack, Lincoln Crown Court heard.

Sentencing the pair to five and a half years, Judge John Machin described the assault as "savage and ferocious".

Mr Swallow was in St Benedict's Square when he was beaten, punched and kicked about the head.

The engineer, from Bracebridge Heath, suffered multiple injuries.

You embarked upon a savage, wicked, ferocious and repugnant attack on a perfectly innocent citizen Judge John Machin

His jaw was found to be so badly fractured that it had broken away from his skull.

Mr Swallow's eye socket and nose were badly damaged, and his face had to be reconstructed with three titanium plates.

He said he had met the two men in the street and asked them what was happening when he was attacked.

"I went to defend myself against them and after that I can't remember a thing," Mr Swallow said.

Judge John Machin told the pair, who admitted causing grievous bodily harm: "This was an appalling episode. What you did was outrageous.

"You embarked upon a savage, wicked, ferocious and repugnant attack on a perfectly innocent citizen."

The court heard that both Kisby and Wheeler, who had 27 previous convictions, had been drinking heavily and had no recollection of what happened.