TWO men who chased their victim up Northgate Street, Chester before punching and kicking him on the ground have been jailed.

Vasil Dinev, 22, of Winwick Street, Warrington and Zef Gjoka, 23, of Frong Island, Leicester, pleaded guilty to assaulting William Ellis in Chester on December 3, 2018.

Appearing at Chester Magistrates Court on Monday, January 14, the duo – who also pleaded guilty to threatening behaviour – were each jailed for 16 weeks.

The court heard the victim was chased from The Cross up Northgate Street to outside Rosies Nightclub, where he was brought to the ground, punched and kicked.

CCTV footage was played to the courtroom showing Bulgarian Dinev and Albanian Gjoka. Both heard proceedings with the assistance of an interpreter who could speak Greek.

Defending, Chris Johnson said: "There is no doubt that these gentlemen have gone beyond what is reasonable by some considerable margin.

"There has been badgering received from the victim. They were not just outraged on their behalf but also on behalf of the young ladies they were with. The victim had a belt around his shoulders.

"Both these young men have been assessed and are a low risk of reoffending.

"With the lack of convictions of these two I would recommend any sentence be suspended."

Chair of magistrates Clive Mason said: "We have thought about it very hard, but the fact remains this was an extremely unpleasant piece of violence in the city centre.

"We accepted there was some provocation but nevertheless when the victim withdrew from the scene you chased after him as part of a group exercise to cause violence to him – the sustained attack of punching and kicking while he was on the ground.

"For that reason we are in no doubt this has passed the custody threshold."

Dinev and Gjoka both received credit for their guilty pleas.

In addition to the jail term, each must pay a £115 victim surcharge.