A thug broke a love rival’s jaw in a sustained street beating - before the woman they were both involved with joined the attack.

Denny Lees, 41, set upon Laurence McAllister outside his Margate home after Jessie Williams, 39, stayed the night.

But instead of trying to protect Mr McAllister as he lay defenceless, Williams kicked and punched him as he lay on the ground, Canterbury Crown Court heard.

Lees, of Princess Anne Road, Broadstairs, was jailed for 18 months. Williams, of New Street, Dover, was handed four months suspended for 18 months.

Judge Simon James dubbed the relationship between the three “somewhat opaque”, after hearing Williams had been romantically involved with both men.

He told Lees: “You continued prosecuting your attack on Mr McAllister who was at this stage clearly prone and defenceless on the ground.

“You Williams, having seen McAllister - in whose home you sought sanctuary - be assaulted, inexplicably decided to join in and leave with Mr Lees.”

The judge added he had “struggled to work out the inter-relationship between the two of you and Mr McAllister.”

Lees could have “permanently injured or killed your victim”, Judge James said, before dubbing Williams’ involvement “particularly gratuitous and cruel”.

The court heard Lees said he would deliver some of Williams’ clothes to McAllister’s address.

After Lees’ black ford Fiesta pulled up outside, McAllister met him on the street when the situation turned violent, prosecutors said.

“Mr Lees laid into Mr McAllister - Mr McAllister remembers taking a beating. The next thing he remembered was being on the floor, and Mr Lees holding onto Miss Williams,” prosecutor Peter Alcock explained.

He added Williams then turned on MaCallister mid-beating, delivering a kick and punch as he lay on the ground, then fled with Lees, during the assault in February 2020.

Mr McAllister was treated at the QEQM Hospital in Margate with surgical glue for a laceration to the back of his head, a broken nose, cuts, bruises and a double fracture to his jaw, the court heard.

Mr Alcock explained that Williams, in July of the same year, was seen lunging at Mr McAllister with a knife in a public place in Dover and arrested.

The court heard there had been a “considerable amount of friction between all three” in the lead up to the assault.

Nick Jones, mitigating for Lees, said he “accepts his behaviour was appalling” and has “done as much as he could do to make amends”.

He said Lees had worked to address an alcohol problem, stayed out of trouble since the assault, entered an early guilty plea for wounding and was prepared to pay compensation.

John Barker, mitigating for Williams, said she has battled mental health problems and alcoholism.

He said Williams has since sought professional support and has obtained work.

Williams pleaded guilty to common assault and possession of a bladed article before trial.