“Cowardly” thugs who broke a woman’s jaw - forcing her to eat through a straw for eight weeks - have been jailed.

Aston Cocks, 28, attacked Alice Moore, 48, outside the York Arms in Ramsgate, in January 2020.

Michael Rowe, 26, then joined in the assault, before they casually walked away, leaving their victim bleeding heavily in King Street.

Ms Moore, who didn’t know her attackers, required two rounds of surgery to help repair the fractures and still suffered pain a year on.

The pair could offer no explanation for the sustained attack, where Rowe also launched a rock at his victim as she tried getting up, Canterbury Crown Court heard.

Handing down a three-year-and-eight month sentence, Judge Simon James said: “You both assaulted a woman twice your age outside a public house in a drunken and, in my opinion, cowardly attack.”

When Ms Moore took issue with Cocks’ rude behaviour in the smoking area “he immediately struck her in the face,” prosecutors said.

“His first punch doesn’t appear to be very hard but his second punch was a right hook, and very forceful,” Tanya Robinson prosecuting said.

The blow caused Ms Moore to lose teeth and blood before her partner, Toby Taylor, 48, rushed to her aid.

But Cocks pulled Mr Taylor to the floor and then rained down punches and kicks, prompting Ms Moore to help her partner.

Rowe then slammed Ms Moore’s head against the wall, causing her to slide down the wall into a heap, CCTV footage showed.

He then crossed the road and launched a missile towards Ms Moore and onlookers, but missed.

The pair could then be seen calmly walking south down King Street, with Ms Moore visibly stunned and surrounded by blood.

Their victim told the court she was forced to eat through a straw for eight weeks with a fractured left jaw and temporarily lost the ability to speak and taste food.

“It was meant to be a quiet night out and these men had no right to do this to me,” she said.

“I can’t believe what they did to me.”

She voiced fears over going out in Ramsgate and a paranoid feeling of “constantly looking over my shoulder”.

Both would be released under police investigation and go on to deal Class A drugs, with Cocks locked up in July for three years.

He pleaded guilty to possession of drugs with intent to supply, being concerned in the supply of drugs and possession of criminal property.

Rowe pleaded guilty to two counts of supplying Class A drugs in November, with sentencing adjourned until today.

On Tuesday both men pleaded to causing grievous bodily harm, Cocks also pleaded guilty to occasioning actual bodily harm against Mr Taylor.

Cocks, formerly of Sussex Street in Ramsgate, was handed an additional two years custody and Rowe, of St Anthony’s Way in Margate, was sentenced to 18 months for the violence and three years for the drugs offences.

John Barker, mitigating for Rowe, said: “My client simply can’t understand how he could conduct himself as he did on the night in question.”

He added Rowe became involved in drug dealing after his work as a plumber’s assistant dried up during the pandemic.

Kerry Waite, mitigating for Cocks, explained: “Having reviewed the CCTV yesterday in the cells Mr Cocks was shocked and appalled by what he saw and is at a loss as to how he could have behaved in that way.”