Two drunken thugs who punched and kicked a defenceless man before trying to hit him over the head with a brick are facing jail. Samuel Vialls, 33, and John Richardson, 26, floored Macllies Richards with a punch before repeatedly kicking him as he lay on t

Two drunken thugs who punched and kicked a defenceless man before trying to hit him over the head with a brick are facing jail.

Samuel Vialls, 33, and John Richardson, 26, floored Macllies Richards with a punch before repeatedly kicking him as he lay on the pavement.

As Mr Richards begged his attackers to leave him alone, Vialls kicked a brick out of a crumbling garden wall and then brandished it over his head.

Mr Richards escaped when a passing cabbie came to his rescue and told him to get in the car.

Jurors at Snaresbrook Crown Court took just over an hour to convict the duo of causing actual bodily harm after rejecting the men's claim that Mr Richards, 47, had thrown the first punch.

The trial heard that Richardson and Vialls had been drinking to celebrate their respective partners' pregnancies before the confrontation.

As they walked past a bus stop in Wood Lane, Dagenham, Richardson, who had downed 15 cans of Stella that day screamed at Mr Richards and then challenged him to a fight.

The thug repeatedly goaded Mr Richards, who was walking home from work.

The victim was punched to the left cheek before the duo waded in with kicks as he lay on the ground during the unprovoked attack at around 7.45pm on April 2 last year.

"They kicked in my abdomen, my thigh and my bottom while I was on my back" said Mr Richards.

He told the court that Vialls held a brick over his head, saying: 'It was as if he wanted to split my head open.'

He managed to roll out of the way just in time.

"He threw the brick on the floor and I could hear some guys shouting for them to leave me alone. I was frightened for my life" said Mr Richards.

The thugs claimed that Mr Richards barged into them as they negotiated a narrow stretch of pavement beside the bus stop, sparking a row between the men.

Richardson insisted that Mr Richards was the real aggressor, and had laid out Vialls with a punch.

Vialls, who told the jury he had only drank four cans of Foster's, said his muscle disorder fibromyalgia gave him constant pain and he was no fighter.

Vialls, of Dunedin Road, Rainham, and Richardson, of Ravensfield Close, Dagenham, denied actual bodily harm.

But after they were convicted of the attack, Judge Georges Khayat QC told the men: "In a case of violence a custodial sentence is inevitable."

He bailed Vialls and Richardson to re-appear for sentencing on November 7, imposing a 7pm to 7am curfew on Richardson.