Thugs jailed after brutal attack in pub

Colin Cooke, Gavin Bates and Dean Light launched a systematic attack on 28-year-old Dean Peverley in a Trowbridge pub, leaving him needing surgery to remove his spleen and most of his pancreas.

Judge Tom Longbotham labelled the trio as "arrogant" at Swindon Crown Court on Friday, for comments made to horrified witnesses, before and after the attack in the Kings Arms pub in April 2003.

Mr Peverley, of Upper Broad Street Court, spoke of his relief at the sentence and hatred towards the three men who left him for dead.

"They deserve a lot more than eight years for what they did to me," he said.

"Cooke smiled at me as he went out the dock but I just smiled back. I hate them. They only stopped the attack because they heard sirens. If I was a lighter man I would have been dead."

Cooke, Bates and Light stormed into the King's Arms pub on a revenge mission after a 20-man mle in Wetherspoons, shouting the words "remember us".

Armed with a table leg, Light smashed Mr Peverley in the face while the other two men joined in, jumping on Mr Peverley's chest and kicking him in the head.

Judge Longbotham told the men their conduct was "disgraceful".

"The last remarks heard by anybody were 'you have seen nothing' or words to that effect," he said.

"The attitude demonstrated by all three of you seems to this court not only violent, but arrogantly violent."

All three men have a history of violence, with Cooke committing the assault while on bail for slashing a man in the face with a knife. He has notched up 19 previous convictions for 40 offences.

Bates has six previous convictions, including one for GBH, while Light has three previous convictions.

Cooke and Bates were sentenced to eight years each after a jury found them both guilty of GBH with intent.

Light was given a five-year sentence for admitting GBH with intent, and a one-and-a-half-year sentence for witness intimidation.