TWO teenagers have been locked up for a life-threatening attack in which they kicked a man 20 times as he lay on the ground screaming for mercy.

York Crown Court heard that Jordan David Peter Jones, 19, and his 17-year-old friend could have killed the man they chased from Blake Street to St Leonard’s Place. There they knocked him to the ground and kicked him 20 times in the head, chest and face as he curled in a ball to try and protect himself.

Rob Gallye, prosecuting, said the victim suffered multiple bone fractures in his face that needed plates inserting to repair them and faces the prospect of further surgery later in his life. He also suffered damage to eight of his teeth that will cost thousands of pounds to repair.

The two continued their attack when two women passing in a car tried to stop them, but eventually walked off leaving their victim covered in blood. He was off work for 15 days.

Recorder Amanda Rippon told the teenagers their actions had been “extremely dangerous”. She told them “He could have died. By luck, I suspect, as much as anything else, you didn’t kill him. You both engaged in a vicious, violent and brutal attack upon him. You kicked and kicked and kicked him as he lay curled up in a ball, begging and pleading for mercy.”

They had been drinking and had wanted to take revenge or retaliation for an incident involving the victim in Blake Street that had left a woman with a bloody nose, the judge said.

She jailed Jones, of Nunthorpe Road, South Bank, for three years, and gave the 17-year-old of north York, who cannnot be named for legal reasons, a two-year detention and training order. The sentence for the younger defendant was shorter because he was 16 at the time of the attack. Jones was 18.

Both pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm with intent on March 25.

Lawyers for both defendants said they were hard workers who had done well at school and that the attack was out of character.

It had not been premeditated.

Detective Constable Mark Skelton, of York CID, said: “I am very pleased with the sentence handed down by the court. This sentence should send the clear message that we will bring anyone responsible for violent offences before the courts so that they can face the consequences of their actions.”