TWO men who kicked another man unconscious in a “cowardly and brutal” attack outside a Kent nightclub have been jailed for three years.

David Painter, 21, and Dominic Madzimure, 20, were caught on security cameras repeatedly stamping on, kicking and punching their victim near the Chicago Rock nightclub in St George’s Place, Canterbury.

The victim had no recollection of the attack, in which he suffered a fractured eye socket and multiple bruises, grazes and bumps.

Painter, of Watercress Lane, Wingham Well, near Canterbury, and Madzimure, from Ashford, both admitted causing grievous bodily harm with intent.

They were joined in the attack by Oguzhan Kanatili, 19, from Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, who admitted inflicting grievous bodily harm and was jailed for 18 months.

Judge Nigel van der Bijl told the three: “This was a cowardly, sustained and brutal attack in the extreme.

“I hope you feel very small because there was nothing macho in what you did – nothing to be proud of, nothing heroic.

“These kind of drunken attacks are rife throughout villages, towns and cities all over Britain. The message has got to go out that this behaviour will not be tolerated by the courts.”

Prosecutor Lynette Calder said that the victim had been dancing in the club and remembered nothing else until he woke up in hospital.

She said the CCTV operator saw Madzimure coming out of Chicago Rock and saw another man slumped over the railings near the Odeon cinema.

He saw Madzimure pushing the man before the others joined in the attack.

She added: “All of them punched and kicked their victim repeatedly.”

Andrew Espley, defending, said that Painter was “haunted” by what he had done that night and had expressed remorse.