TWO brothers who launched a savage attack on a man in a street were each starting four-year jail sentences last night.

Jason Griffiths suffered life-threatening head injuries when he was kicked and stamped on after being knocked out.

The 29-year-old spent eight days in intensive care in an artificial coma, and a total of two months in hospital.

He was set upon by Johnathon and Christopher Sirrell after a chance meeting in a Stockton street on April 13.

Teesside Crown Court heard that there had been a long-standing feud between Mr Griffiths and Johnathon Sirrell, 23.

When Sirrell saw Mr Griffiths outside a takeaway at 3am, he approached him, became aggressive and said: “I’m going to do you.”

Mr Griffiths felled Sirrell with a single punch, before the aggressor’s 25-year-old brother, joined in the attack in Yarm Lane.

Judge Timothy Stead branded the brothers “disgraceful and outrageous”.

Christopher Sirrell, of Stirling Way, Thornaby, near Stockton, admitted a charge of causing grievous bodily harm with intent.

His brother, of Cornfield Road, Thornaby, pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm and drugs possession.

The court heard that police found heroin worth up to £1,300 in his car, and a further £2,700 of the drug in a parking bay where he had been.

Nigel Soppitt, mitigating, said his client was acting as a courier when he was stopped by police on December 1.

Paul Abrahams, for Christopher Sirrell, said: “While he is big in size, he is not a person who uses his bulk to get involved in fights on a regular basis.”

The court heard that Sirrell was celebrating the birth of his child at the time of the incident.