Four thugs who brutally attacked a builder outside his home have been jailed.

David Head was left unconscious with a broken jaw and smashed teeth after he was assaulted by his attackers.

The 48-year-old died of a heart attack a month after the incident.

Lewes Crown Court was yesterday told Mr Head did not die as a result of the attack but the injuries he suffered seriously affected his last days alive.

John Moriarty, 33, of Stoney Road, Portslade, admitted causing him grievous bodily harm with intent.

Daniel Bate, 22, David Howat, 26, and Donna Molloy, 22, were all convicted of the same charge after a week-long trial.

The gang had savagely attacked Mr Head when he went to see who had kicked in the communal door of a block of flats where he lived in Ashton Rise, Brighton.

Bate, of Clarendon Road, Hove, was given an indeterminate prison sentence for the public's protection. The earliest he will be able to apply for release will be in three years and five months.

Howat, of Stoney Road, Porstlade, was sentenced to six years behind bars.

Moriarty was told he must serve five years in prison while Molloy, of Sheridan Terrace, Hove, will serve five and a half years.

Judge Charles Kemp described the gang's attack as "callous" and "vicious".

He said: "I'm not sentencing you for causing Mr Head's death but for causing the dreadful injuries which affected the last few days of his life. You callously left him lying there while other good-natured members of the public went to his aid."

The court was told Moriarty had been visiting a property in the flats on November 2, 2006 when he had been asked to leave.

He was drunk and tried to get back in by kicking in the glass front door to the block.

Mr Head had been watching television when he heard the noise and went to investigate.

Moriarty then attacked the victim with a yellow plastic floor-cleaning sign.

The three others, who had come down from another flat, joined in and repeatedly kicked and stamped on Mr Head.

Mr Head's mother Angela Wesson, from Hove, was at court to watch her son's attackers sentenced.

After the ruling she said she was pleased with the sentences. "With the courts the way they are, it is as good as I could have expected," she said.

"If it was any lower I think I would have screamed. My stomach was turning over and I felt sick."

Mrs Wesson said she did not feel any hatred for her son's attackers but added: "When they are out their parents will have them back but I have no hope of seeing my son again.

"They will have time to think about what they have done and hopefully they will come out better people.

"I will try and make this a closure. I believe God wanted him, but not this way."