Thugs punched and kicked revellers in a “merciless” attack and then boasted on social media.

One of them bragged about it on social media while his pal mocked the victim, Canterbury Crown Court heard.

Dayton Hayes, 21, and Joseph Holmes, 20, set upon their victims in Dover town centre after drinking until the small hours of the morning.

The next day Holmes, of Victoria Villas in Wigmore Lane, Eythorne, bragged it was a “mad night last night”.

Hayes, of Wynham Road, Dover, soon replied “Haha I feel sorry for that ginger kid,” with an emoji showing he was “laughing until he was crying.”

Judge Rupert Lowe handed the duo jail terms totalling six years and eight months after they each admitted wounding one of the victims with intent and assaulting two others.

The court heard the pair had been drinking with friends at the Funky Monkey pub in Bench Street, Dover, on Boxing Day 2016.

After leaving the pub, they led their pals who launched a sustained assault on three people with one victim being repeatedly kicked and punched on the floor.

Judge Lowe told them: “Dayton Hayes had the idea of a fight, and I suspect between you, you had identified someone who would have been a good target.

“Dayton Hayes invented an excuse to start one by saying words to the effect ‘what did you say about my mother’ to one of the victims.

“You were simply manufacturing an excuse to beat people up.”

Hayes beat up one and Holmes head-butted another “square on the bridge of the nose,” the court heard.

Judge Lowe told the court when a victim fled to Best Kebab near Market Square Hayes and Holmes “punched and kicked him mercilessly.”

He added: “(Your accomplices) joined in but it clear you were the main instigators.”

The court heard one victim suffered hearing loss for several months, another suffered facial fractures.

On sentencing the suspects’ families could be seen comforting each other, meanwhile Holmes and Hayes remained emotionless.

Judge Lowe explained the duo’s young ages at the time of the assault and a trial delay were mitigating factors.

“Inside you were still boys but you had the bodies of men, that is how you did the damage.

“It was part of your culture and you were boasting about it the next day,” he added.

Holmes was imprisoned for four years and Hayes received 32 months after an early guilty plea.