TWO thugs left a 14-year-old boy with a fractured eye socket after attacking him in the street for no reason, a court heard.

Connor Lewis, 19, and Kieran Williams, 17, laughed and joked with family and friends after being spared jail for the assault in Redcar.

Prosecutor David Crook told Teesside Crown Court: “There seems to be no point in the offence at all.

“It seems to have been bullying thuggery.”

The victim was accompanied by a female friend when he was attacked in Langthwaite Walk, Redcar, shortly after 10.30pm on February 1 this year.

He was repeatedly hit in the face, but managed to run off, telling his friend to run in the opposite direction.

Mr Crook described how Williams caught up with the victim, put an arm around him and apologised. He was then walked back to where the attack began and punched in the face again.

The barrister said: “[He] was terrified and upset and in pain.”

Lewis, of Coral Street, Saltburn, east Cleveland, and Williams, of Cropton Close, Redcar, were picked out from a police identity parade and admitted inflicting grievous bodily harm.

Lewis, who was said to suffer from ‘social autism’, had been drinking and had a limited memory of the attack.

Kieran Rainey, for Williams, said he had apologised to the victim and shown great remorse.

Recorder Sophie Drake said it was a cowardly attack, fuelled by drink, on a young boy who was just minding his own business.

Lewis received a nine-month jail sentence, suspended for 18 months, a six-month 8pm to 7am curfew, and will pay £100 compensation to the victim.

Williams was given an 18-month long community rehabilitation order, the same six-month curfew, and will do 240 hours unpaid work. He will also pay £100 compensation.