Two men left a dad with a fractured cheekbone in a "gratuitous" attack witnessed by his screaming three-year-old daughter outside her home.

Neighbours Mark Stannett and Jake Chambers were said to have reacted "grossly out of proportion" to a row taking place between Adam White and his ex-partner in a communal area of a block of flats in Margate.

With the toddler watching on the doorstep and another daughter inside, the pair punched, kicked and stamped on Mr White while also threatening to throw him over the stair railings.

Canterbury Crown Court heard the onslaught continued as the victim lay on the floor, at times unconscious, and a child's screams could be heard in the background of a desperate 999 call.

Chambers even laughed as he callously remarked Mr White may have been killed - and reacted aggressively on being jailed this week, shouting and banging after being led from the dock to the court cells and resulting in extra staff being summoned for assistance.

Mr White, who also suffered a broken tooth and had to wear a knee brace, told police following the violent and unprovoked assault on June 4 last year: "This has not just injured me physically but now I have to live with the fact my daughters had to see their dad get beaten up which really upsets me."

Prosecutor Simon Smith said that although the couple were rowing outside the second-floor flat at Hatherley Court in Edgar Road when Stannett, 45, and Chambers, 28, stepped in, Mr White was not being violent or aggressive towards his ex-partner.

Chambers was the first to arrive on the scene, shouting "Get your f***ing hands off her" despite Mr White not touching her, and was quickly joined by Stannett.

"They rained blows on Mr White which resulted in him going to the ground and the attack continued. His phone fell from his pocket and Jake Chambers stamped on it," Mr Smith told the court.

"At one point Mark Stannett had hold of Mr White against the balcony railings and there was a threat to throw him over.

"While the attack was going on, Mr White's ex-partner made a call to police and one can hear screaming and shouting, asking the defendants to stop, the child screaming and the ex-partner saying: 'There's a three-year-old child here.'

"Mr White recalls Mark Stannett saying to him: 'If you come back I'll kill you.' The victim was then stamped on, dragged to the stairwell and at one point his knee was stamped on and he was kicked to the head.

"The victim was unconscious for some of the time and Jake Chambers was at one point heard to make a comment that he might be dead and was laughing.

"Mr White's ex-partner said the defendants were kicking him in the head while he was lying on the floor not moving. Her estimate is that the assault lasted at least 10 minutes."

The violence was also witnessed by other neighbours and the two men were later arrested at their flats.

Stannett told police he had "nothing to do" with the attack while Chambers claimed to have done nothing more than shout "from a distance" at Mr White, the court was told.

He also dismissed marks on his hands as being ones he had suffered through his job as a groundworker a few days earlier.

However, after the pair had been picked out in police identification procedures, Chambers – who has 26 previous convictions for 56 offences including seven for battery since 2011, as well as assault and false imprisonment in 2020 – claimed Mr White had attacked him and the pair ended up in a tussle.

It was the resulting fall to the floor, he said, which had knocked the victim unconscious and as he [Chambers] left to go to his flat, he saw Mr White get back to his feet and walk downstairs. He also denied breaking the phone.

Stannett, a former warehouseman of Edgar Road, Margate, later pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm. The court heard he has eight previous convictions for 16 offences – the last having been committed when he was a teenager and none for violence.

Chambers, now of Percy Road, Ramsgate, also admitted causing GBH as well as damaging property in respect of the phone.

Phil Rowley, defending Stannett, said his client was "really at a loss" as to why he became involved that night, having led a "settled and productive adult life", with a long-term partner and child.

"There may have been cause to go and say something but clearly the incident got completely out of hand," the lawyer told the court.

"He recognises and accepts that he is responsible on a joint enterprise basis for what took place. He is deeply remorseful for what he has done and struggles to speak about it without figuratively and literally hanging his head in shame in his hands."

Kerry Waitt, defending Chambers, said he had been diagnosed with bipolar, ADHD and autism, and prescribed both antipsychotic drugs and mood stabilisers, but that at the time of this offending he was "self-medicating" with alcohol and drugs.

He urged the court however to give Chambers a chance, citing he had "moved on" in life, was complying with medication, and that a family tragedy had not seen him "end up in a mess".

"There is a positive prognosis and the defendant wants to be given further opportunity to prove to the public, the court and himself that he has put his offending behind him," added Mr Waitt.

However, Recorder Daniel Stevenson said while he could spare Stannett immediate custody, Chambers's previous convictions as well as poor compliance with community and court orders could not be ignored.

Jailing Chambers for 27 months and handing Stannett an 18-month jail term suspended for two years with 250 hours of unpaid work, the judge told the pair: "Whatever the reasons for the altercation (between Mr White and his former partner) were, I have no doubt it was this that caused you to act in the way you did. However, your conduct was grossly out of proportion.

"This was gratuitous violence. The consequence for Mr White was really serious bodily injury. There is no victim personal statement but it is bound to have had a significant impact on him, particularly because his own young daughter witnessed him being assaulted."

Both men were excused paying a victim surcharge in favour of compensation to Mr White totalling £346. They were also made subject to a five-year restraining order.