Two thugs left a homeless man fearing he would die as he was kicked, punched and slashed with a knife while laying in his tent.

Ben Laker had been asleep in his zipped-up shelter in Folkestone when he was rudely awakened by demands for a phone followed by the "slicing" open of his makeshift home.

He told Canterbury Crown Court he "could not make any sense" of what was being said shortly before "absolute madness" erupted and he curled up into a ball to protect himself from attack.

Having recognised the knifeman as Grant Ray, Mr Laker told a jury: "I was terrified. I honestly thought I was going to die. I honestly thought he was going to cut my throat or my chest. If I didn't put my leg up it would have been a lot worse."

Now, following the crooks sentencing hearing last Friday (March 8), one of his assailants is behind bars.

The court heard Mr Laker had been sleeping in a grassy, isolated area of the town known locally as The Viaduct for about two to three weeks when he was assaulted.

He said he had chosen that spot, near Bradstone Avenue, because he thought he would be safe.

But at about 8.30pm on May 5 2022, he was accosted by 31-year-old Ray and an accomplice, Christopher Hunter, 47, as a result of a falling out between Ray's partner and Mr Laker's girlfriend.

The victim said he woke up to one of the men asking him about a phone being stolen and then seeing the side of his tent being slashed open with the knife.

"I couldn't make any sense of it all. It was madness, absolute madness. I didn't think it was going to turn out like that. The phone was all a made-up story. I didn't know if he had the wrong person," Mr Laker told the court during Ray and Hunter's trial last year.

"All I can remember was someone coming through the side of the tent. It was sliced with a knife. It happened all so fast. It was really scary.

"Straightaway I just went into defence mode. I didn't know what to do and just curled myself up because I didn't know what was going to happen.

"One (Hunter) was kicking and punching me and the other (Ray) was trying to get my jaw and pull it down."

The court heard Mr Laker felt "fists and feet" to his back while Ray "yanked" his jaw open, knowing that the 30-year-old had recently had surgery to repair a fracture.

Despite his own pain and distress, Mr Laker was concerned enough to ask the whereabouts of his partner. He said it was at this point Ray knifed him.

"He has come at me, straight over the top of me. I'm screaming 'No, no!' and I put my knee up to cover myself," he told the court.

"I was laying down on my back, crying and upset. I was shouting, I was scared. All I remember is him coming over the top of me and how he looked at me in the eyes.

"I honestly thought I was going to die. I thought I was dead. That's when I stuck my leg up and he slashed across."

Asked about the pain he felt, Mr Laker continued: "I screamed, I screamed, oh my Lord, Jesus, that hurt, that really, really hurt me. It scared me."

Mr Laker added he had "no idea" why he was attacked, although he knew his girlfriend had had a row with a woman Ray "was sleeping with".

"It baffled my brain. It was like putting it in a blender. I didn't have a clue what was going on. What they did was cowardly, disgusting," he told the jury.

Mr Laker said he could no longer bend his left leg as a result of tendon damage caused by the 8cm long by 3cm deep wound.

Accused of lying about the attack by Ray's barrister, Nicholas Hamblin, Mr Laker replied: "Why would I do that? About a man I don't really know who has just got out of prison."

He agreed Hunter "did not do much" in the attack and that he could not be sure he had even entered the tent, but he maintained he was responsible for hitting him in the back as Ray grabbed his jaw.

“I honestly thought I was going to die. I thought I was dead. That's when I stuck my leg up and he slashed across...”

Unemployed Ray, of Watkin Road, Folkestone, denied wounding with intent but was convicted. He had however admitted assaulting an emergency worker in relation to his behaviour on arrest.

Hunter, a construction worker of Harbour Way, Folkestone, was found guilty of assault causing actual bodily harm.

Prosecutor Neil Moore told the jury the men's assault on a "defenceless" man started with "punching, kicking and stomping" and ended with the "intentional" stabbing.

"What other intention could Grant Ray have had by taking a large knife to the scene and using it in the way he did on a defenceless Mr Laker who could do no more than curl up in a ball in his own tent," he added.

Mr Moore said Hunter helped to wake a clearly vulnerable Mr Laker to try to coax him out of the tent and then took part in a physical assault.

Following their arrests, Ray denied involvement in any assault, adding he didn't trust police and it was "a set up".

Hunter was said to have told officers he was "genuinely innocent of any wrongdoing" and "just standing there" when Ray went into the tent.

Ray, who has previous convictions for robbery and fraud, was jailed for seven years.

Hunter was sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment suspended for two years, with 100 hours of unpaid work, 15 rehabilitation activity sessions, and 120 days' alcohol abstinence monitoring.