THREE teenagers from Bradford on Avon who left a man with a fractured skull have been locked up.

The youths, two aged 16 and one aged 17, launched an attack on Shaun Campbell as he walked home after a night out in the Kings Arms pub in Bradford.

On Friday at Swindon Crown Court Judge Tom Longbotham imposed 12-month detention and training orders on the two 16-year-olds and an eight-month detention and training order on the 17-year-old.

All three were cleared of causing grievous bodily harm with intent.

The 16-year-old from Bradford also denied GBH but was found guilty. The other two had admitted the charge before the trial.

Cllr Michael Bowen, chairman of Bradford's community safety group, praised the police for bringing the youths to justice.

He said: "If people going about their normal lives are being attacked I think it is a very bad situation in a town."

During the trial the jury heard how Mr Campbell was outside his home as the youths, who knew each other from school, rained punches on him and kicked him as he lay on the ground, leaving him with a fractured skull and internal bleeding.

Mr Campbell had been drinking heavily on May 28 and was teased as he left the pub by one of the three youths.

Despite the police being called the teenager stayed in the town centre and later met up with the two other boys, who were staying at the same house, but sneaked out after pretending to go to bed.

The three boys discovered Mr Campbell in a drunken stupor, sleeping on a barrel by the garage on Trowbridge Road. He started shouting at them and followed them but stopped outside his house.

The 16-year-old Bradford boy ran back and pushed him over, causing him to knock his head on the pavement before all three piled in, raining kicks on him.

They fled when they were spotted by neighbours, one of whom had recognised the Trowbridge youth.

Matthew Scott, defending the 17-year-old, said the youth came from a good home and had done badly in his GCSEs as a result of the incident but was doing well at college and hoped to go to university.

Michael Butt, defending the other Bradford teenager, said the lad was hoping to join the army, which would be unlikely if he received a jail term.

Sarah Regan, defending the Trowbridge youth, who has a number of previous convictions, said he felt bad about the distress he had caused his victim.

Judge Longbotham said: "This sort of gratuitous violence is a matter of very serious concern to the public and rightly so."

The difference in the sentence was because the Trowbridge 16-year-old had previous convictions and the younger Bradford teenager had pleaded not guilty to GBH.