A POLISH man was dragged into an alleyway and assaulted by two men during a drunken late night incident in Stroud town centre, a court heard on Friday.

Ladislav Hubinsky hit his head on a metal bollard in the alleyway in Merrywalks as he was thrown to the ground during the attack, said prosecutor Julian Kesner.

In the dock at Gloucester crown court were Ryan McGeary, 23, of Parliament Street, Stroud, and Jack Thomas, 21, of Belle Vue Close, Stroud, who both admitted assaulting Mr Hubinsky causing him actual bodily harm on 25 October last year.

Mr Kesner said Mr Hubinsky was with friends and they were all drunk at 11.10pm that night at the Merrywalks entrance. He got into an argument with Thomas and aimed a 'lame and weak' punch at him.

"That was the catalyst for the assault on Mr Hubinsky," he said. "An aggravating feature is that at that point Thomas involved his friend McGeary, who is bigger than him, a stocky man.

"He was recruited to back him up. There was a bigger Polish man with Mr Hubinsky but in fact he took no part in what happened."

Mr Kesner showed the court CCTV of the two defendants taking Mr Hubinsky to a path between two shops and 'pulling him with force so that his head collided with a bollard,' causing a 2cm cut to the forehead and another to the chin.

"He can be seen putting his hands to his head before he strikes the ground. Mr McGeary is then seen laying in with at least one kick to Mr Hubinsky. It was all over in a flash."

Nicola Colwill, for McGeary, said he admitted the attack on the basis that Mr Hubinsky had assaulted Thomas first.

"But my client recognises he has issues with his temper and that can be exacerbated by consumption of alcohol."

For Thomas, Emma Knott handed in three references from friends and family and said he has a good job as an apprentice electrical engineer with a well known company.

"He is a very nice young man and he is mortified that his behaviour let him down on this night," she said.

Recorder Ian Lawrie QC told the pair "The courts are tired of young men getting involved in this sort of violence at night. It happens across the country and it happens far too often.

"You two should not have got involved. You should just have walked away."

He passed community orders on both defendants and ordered them to do 80 hours of unpaid work each. McGeary was also ordered to attend an addressing aggressive behaviour course.

They were also ordered to pay compensation of £250 each to Mr Hubinsky as well as costs of £85 each.