by Keith Hunt

Two drunken thugs caught on film attacking a defenceless taxi driver as he cowered helpless in his cab have been jailed for 18 months.

It was the first prosecution using footage from cameras installed in all Gravesham cabs following the shocking murder in 2007 of grandfather Gian Chand Bajar by passenger Luke Aujila.

Sentencing Gavin Clark and Stephen Richardson, a judge said of the increased security: "Thank goodness it was, because that evidence which led you to plead guilty reveals just what this man was subjected to."

He described the assault as "outrageous and wicked".

Maidstone Crown Court heard how the trouble started when victim Steve West’s cab struck Richardson’s brother Bill after he drunkenly stumbled into the road in Perry Street, Northfleet, on April 24.

Andrew Espley, prosecuting, said Mr West, 46, was not to blame and he quickly called for an ambulance as Mr Richardson lay injured in the road.

Father-of-three Richardson, 34, then came out of the Crown pub believing the cabbie was at fault, followed by 21-year-old Clark.

Richardson laid into Mr West and grabbed him around the throat. The terrified victim was to tell police: "I was thinking of my children. This was because I thought I was going to die."

Others tried to restrain Richardson before Clark joined in the attack, punching Mr West in the face. Mr West ended up on the ground, covered in blood, with a footprint on the back of his head. He suffered black eyes and cuts and bruises.

Richardson, of Greenhill Road, Greenhithe, and Clark, of Snelling Road, Northfleet, admitted assault causing actual bodily harm at Dartford magistrates’ court and were committed for sentence.