Two members of a drunken gang who racially abused and attacked a man and his girlfriend on a night out have been jailed.

John Mack and Sean Baker were each given two years by a judge who said the public's patience with binge drinking had been exhausted.

Jamie Hughes and Lee Clark were given maximum 240-hour community punishment orders for their part in the attack in Brighton.

All four were found guilty of violent disorder after a four-week trial at Hove Crown Court last month. Judge Anthony Niblett told them then they had behaved like a pack of "wild animals".

They were among a gang of up to 20 who chased and attacked student Tawuya Chipato and his girlfriend Sally-Ann Barton during the incident witnessed by late night revellers in the city centre.

Walton Hornsby, prosecuting, told the jury the group had been drinking in pubs and were singing football and patriotic songs as they walked through the city centre.

Mr Chipato, an accountancy student at Huddersfield University, was visiting 22-year-old Miss Barton who is studying business at Brighton University.

He had parked his car in Ship Street when one of a group of people nearby delivered a flying kick at the wing mirror.

Mr Chipato, 22, challenged the man, who has never been identified, and was immediately surrounded and attacked by the gang who made racially abusive remarks to him.

He managed to break free as Miss Barton screamed for help and fled into North Street, where he was cornered by the gang outside Subway. Witnesses said they formed two circles around him kicking him and reigning punches down on him as he lay on the ground.

Miss Barton was also thrown to the ground and punched as she tried to prevent the gang attacking her boyfriend. The court heard two members of the public, Lee Johnson and accountant Steve Fennelow, intervened and Mr Johnson stood between the victim and his attackers.

Their actions were commended by the Judge Niblett yesterday who said their intervention had saved Mr Chipato from more serious injury.

He said: "Their actions and particularly that of Mr Johnson are to be commended for their courageous intervention in this violent incident."

Mack, 27, of Tilbury Road, Brighton; Baker, 20, of Barrow Hill, Hollingdean, Brighton; Hughes, 21, of Tilbury Way, Brighton, and Clark, 18, of Auckland Drive, Bevendean, Brighton, were arrested shortly after the attack after witnesses pointed them out.

Tony Loder, defending Hughes, a sportswear shop assistant, said he accepted being part of the large gang that attacked Mr Chipato but said he was not one of the ringleaders.

Sarah Thorne, defending Baker, said: "He accepts responsibility for what he did that night and its effect on the victim and all those present at the scene."

Andrew Selby, defending Mack, said: "He feels sickened by the assault. He said the offence was horrendous and those are his words and not mine."

John Marsden-Lynch, defending Clark, an assistant at TK Maxx in North Street, Brighton, said: "He knows that he is the author of his own misfortune and has shown remorse from the very start."

In addition to community punishment orders, Hughes and Clark were given a six month curfew preventing them from being away from home between 10pm and 7am. They were also ordered to pay £500 each in compensation to Mr Chipato and £500 each towards prosecution costs.

The judge said they had escaped being jailed because of their previous good character and the support of their family and colleagues who had spoken up for them in court.