Two thugs caught on taxi dashcam beating man unconscious in the street while bragging and shouting ‘who’s laughing now?’ are jailed
The pair both breached suspended prison sentences when they launched the attack
TWO thugs who mercilessly beat a defenceless man in this shocking video have been put behind bars.
Zak Farmer and William Atkins, both 20, were caught on a passing taxi's dashcam attacking the two innocent men walking past them.
Atkins instigated the attack by knocking one of the men out by elbowing him in the head at around 3am on September 11 last year in Colchester, Essex.
Farmer even carried on battering one of the victims as he lay unconscious on the pavement.
When the victim's friend attempted to defend his pal, he was also knocked out by Atkins with a single punch.
While the defenceless second victim was unconscious on the ground in front of a gathering crowd, Farmer punched and kicked him in the head.
That victim sustained a bleed on the brain which required three days of hospital treatment.
The taxi driver, who captured the footage but does not wish to be named, said: "It was brutal. As I arrived I immediately went to the chap who was knocked out first.
"I put him in the recovery position and when I knew he was comfortable, I went to the other guy and put him in the recovery position as well.
"Atkins actually came back and pretended he didn't know what had happened.
"He was going off on one, saying: 'What's happened here? Who's done this?' as if he didn't know.
"Then a friend came back and grabbed him and said: 'We have got to go now'."
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He added: "By then the first guy was so limp, he had actually rolled out of the recovery position."
He then claims to have unsuccessfully asked for help from security staff.
The cabbie added: "The funny thing was it was actually the Military Police and the ambulance who arrived on the scene.
"I suppose, it being the time of the day, Essex Police would have been really stretched."
The driver then picked up a passenger and took them to a nearby address.
When he returned, he said one of the victims was still being treated by medics.
The taxi driver left all his details with Military Police officers but claims they were not passed onto their Essex Police counterparts.
Detectives were only made aware of his footage when he arrived at Colchester police station the next morning to make sure his details had been passed on.
After the shocking assaults, Chelmsford Crown Court heard Atkins screamed the words: "That'll teach them. Who's laughing now?"
The pair were walking with two other men outside Missoula nightclub when the attack happened.
After viewing it Judge David Turner QC heard that Atkins had six convictions for 15 offences and had accumulated 27 months in suspended jail sentences, including for battery, unlawful wounding, criminal damage, threatening and abusive behaviour, theft and burglary.
The court was also told Farmer had seven convictions for 13 offences which included battery, resisting arrest and threatening and abusive behaviour. He also had a caution for a common assault.
Farmer, of Braintree, Essex, previously admitted one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm on September 11.
Atkins, of Clacton, Essex, had already pleaded guilty to two counts of ABH.
Both men also admitted breaching their previous suspended sentences.
Jailing Atkins for three years and Farmer for 18 months, Judge Turner said: "As I suspect both of you will accept, there comes a point when the court faces a situation such as this where it has to say enough is enough.
"The reality is when you both exerted the violence you did on September 11 at 3am in the morning in Colchester against an entirely innocent person you were each in breach of a series of suspended sentences, some of which were given alarmingly close to that date.
"You, Mr Atkins, had been at this court for a serious offence of violence on August 8 - one month before this conduct which brings you before the court yet again.
"You, Mr Farmer, had been before the court on August 2 - no time at all before the behaviour which brings you here today."
"Mr Atkins, you elbowed your victim with such viciousness that he was simply prostrate on the pavement and caused him to lose consciousness - the force of that blow defies belief."
The pair, sentenced on Friday, will serve half their sentences in prison before being released on licence.
It comes after another taxi driver dashcam captured a shocking attack in the middle of a busy London intersection when the would-be attacker ended up being assaulted himself.
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