Two brothers and their friend have been jailed for kicking a man on the ground in a "vicious" attack.

Darren Richard Smillie, 25, Ben Russell Beavers, 22, and Robert Leslie Beavers, 23, pushed tables out of their way to get at victim Mark Ashworth when he popped into a Haxby pub, Nigel Wray, prosecuting, told York Crown Court.

Between them the trio, from Strensall and Acomb, "stomped" on Mr Ashworth's head and landed numerous blows to his ribs and legs. As the trio left, Robert Beavers hurled a concrete slab through their victim's car windscreen and dented its bonnet.

Barristers for the three said they were hard-working men with no record for violence, and made allegations about Mr Ashworth's conduct over his broken relationship with the Beaver brothers' sister, Naomi.

The trio gasped as Judge Paul Hoffman jailed them for 18 months each, saying it was a "vicious" attack of three men on one.

Mr Ashworth had received a "nasty head injury", and it was no thanks to the three that he had not been more seriously injured.

Smillie, of Middlecroft Drive, Strensall, pleaded guilty to causing actual bodily harm.

The Beaver brothers, both of Poppleton Road, Acomb, pleaded guilty to affray and Robert Beavers also admitted criminal damage.

Mr Wray said Mr Ashworth arrived at The Cottage Inn, Haxby, at about 6pm on August 23 last year, but tried to leave as soon as he saw the trio sitting on the opposite side of the room.

"They went after him, pushing tables out of the way in order to get to him. He was pushed violently in the back, causing him to fall over a table onto the floor," said Mr Wray.

He read out what the judge called "graphic" eyewitness accounts of how one of the three "stomped" on Mr Ashworth's head and the other two kicked Mr Ashworth in the ribs and legs as the trio landed "numerous" blows on his body.

Mr Ashworth suffered a cut to his head, a black eye, a swollen cheek bone, grazes to his forehead and right temple and an aching back and chest.

His car needed £843.23 worth of repairs.

For former ABB employee Smillie, Robert Collins said he had kicked Mr Ashworth's ribs.

He had had disagreements with Mr Ashworth over his relationship with Naomi Beavers, which had culminated in Mr Ashworth saying something to him in The Cottage Inn.

Paul Williams, for Ben Beavers, and Simon Reevell, for Robert Beavers, said the attack was completely out of character.

Updated: 14:34 Wednesday, February 07, 2001