A man walking home in the early hours was stamped on so hard during a mugging, the imprint of a shoe was left on his scalp.

Luke Hoare escaped without any broken bones but was battered and bruised in the attack after leaving Tunbridge Wells High Street.

The 45-year-old antique dealer had reached the outskirts of the town when he saw a car drive past and then turn back.

Prosecutor William Saunders said the car stopped and Mr Hoare thought he was going to be asked for directions.

But a car door open and he felt a blow to his left leg. He fell to the ground and was then kicked in the head. He put his arms up to try to protect his head.

Mr Hoare later told police he was sure there was more than one attacker as he was being kicked to the front and back of his body at the same time.

His phone fell from his pocket and was taken. He screamed for help and heard one of the men say: “Let’s go.” The car drove off.

“He was in shock,” Mr Saunders told Maidstone Crown Court. “He felt pain. His head was stamped on so that the imprint of a shoe was left on his head.”

CCTV cameras in the area helped to trace the car and 24-year-old scaffolder Daniel Finch, of Chiltern Drive, Hastings, was arrested.

He admitted assault causing actual bodily harm on an accepted basis that he had stayed in the car and not been involved in the attack. He also admitted theft.

“He doesn’t accept he delivered the actual blows but was part of a group attack,” said his lawyer Chris Harding. “He accepts he was the driver of the vehicle.”

Finch was sentenced to almost seven months imprisonment suspended for two years and ordered to pay the victim £500 compensation at the rate of £50 a week.

Judge Philip Statman told him: “Your role was effectively the getaway driver and not responsible for any violence, but you knew well fine what was going on and you certainly did nothing to help him thereafter.

“If I were to send you immediately to prison within a short period of time yo would be released. I want to have a much greater hold on you.”

Finch will have to abide by a curfew from 8pm to 5am for nine months.