Preston Crown Court heard thugs burst into neighbour's flat on Hornby Road, Blackpool and savagely beat victim

Three Blackpool thugs who burst into a neighbour's flat and gave him a savage beating were spared jail by a judge.

Robert Booth-Isherwood, James Randle and Kai Spiers escaped with suspended prison sentences after Preston Crown Court heard they had all worked hard to get their lives back on track in more than two years since the attack.

The trio were said to have beaten up the man because they suspected he had either assaulted or verbally abused an elderly man suffering from cancer.

All three pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm, with Booth-Isherwood and Spiers also admitting theft of items from the flat in Hornby Road, Blackpool and criminal damage to the property.

District Judge Richard Clews told them: "This assault was particularly serious. I don't imagine we will ever get to the bottom of exactly what it was that caused you to behave in this way.

"I heard you took exception to the way the victim had spoken to an elderly person. But none of what you did can be remotely justified. It was a group attack on a person on his own."

Barrister Clare Thomas, prosecuting, said that in September 2021 the man was at home late at night. The three men, who also lived in the same block of flats, burst in and assaulted him, punching him repeatedly in the face.

Two of the men returned shortly after and attacked him again, causing damage to the flat and stealing items including his mobile phone, a pair of trainers and two PlayStation games.

The victim suffered numerous cuts and bruises on his face and all three were arrested by police.

Ms Thomas said Spiers, 21, had no previous convictions, 36-year-old Randle had committed just one non-violent offence, but Booth-Isherwood, 41, had a lengthy record dating back 10 years and had spent the last five months on remand for this attack at the end of a sentence for drugs offences.

Claire Larton, for Randle, said her client had been drunk at the time, but had not sought to minimise his behaviour and had made a frank admission throughout.

"He is disgusted by what he has done," she told the court. "There is real recognition by him of the harm he has caused."

She said in the two years since the offence Randle, of Hornby Road, Blackpool had made "significant progress" and had stayed out of trouble. He was working full-time and if he was sent to prison he would lose his job, his accommodation and contact with his six-year-old daughter.

Jimmy Vakil, representing Spiers, of Coleridge Road, Blackpool, said his client would have been just 18 at the time of the attack and was considerably younger than the other two.

"He accepts there is no justification for what he came to do," he said. "He is deeply regretful of his actions and his involvement and the physical, emotional and psychological effect on the victim. He is deeply ashamed.

"He understood the victim had assaulted an elderly neighbour who was suffering from cancer and that's what caused this impressionable young man to lose it and behave in that way. His grandmother passed away from cancer not long before the offence and it had a significant effect on him."

Charles Brown, for Booth-Isherwood, said his client had been due to be released from a prison sentence for drugs offences in August last year and had been on remand ever since, meaning he had served an extra five months.

He said that despite his lengthy criminal record, not one of his offences had been for violence. He had been a drug addict in the past and that had been behind most of his offending. After serving his latest sentence he was now drug free and working as a mentor for other prison inmates.

Judge Clews gave Spiers a 10-month prison sentence suspended for 12 months and ordered him to do 50 hours unpaid work, 10 days of rehabilitation activities and pay £200 compensation to the victim of the assault.

In Randle's case he gave him 12 months suspended for 12 months with 75 hours unpaid work, 15 days of rehabilitation activities and £200 compensation to the victim.

For Booth-Isherwood, of no fixed address, he handed down a 14-month prison term suspended for 12 months.