Three thugs face jail after they left a Brighton father-of-two for dead following a brutal street attack.

Carlo Dawes, 25, of Newick Road, Moulsecoomb, Brighton, and two youths aged 15 and 16, who cannot be named for legal reasons, punched and kicked their victim senseless.

As they fled, leaving him lying unconscious in the road, one member of the gang shouted: "Let's go. I think we've killed him."

At Lewes Crown Court yesterday the trio were warned they faced jail for the attack after admitting causing grievous bodily harm.

The court heard Cliff Johnson, 43, who is of mixed race, suffered serious injuries in the unprovoked attack by the three white defendants in Moulsecoomb in March.

Mr Johnson thought he was going to die when the gang surrounded him in Goodwood Way as he walked home.

He suffered serious swelling to his face, had blurred vision, cuts to his head, a fractured bone in his face, three teeth were knocked out and he had broken ribs.

Judge Anthony Scott-Gall adjourned the hearing until September 9 for sentence.

He said: "A custodial sentence is virtually guaranteed in each of your cases."

Graham Brown, prosecuting, told the court there had been a verbal confrontation between Dawes and Mr Johnson earlier in the evening while Mr Johnson was visiting a friend.

As he walked home later he found himself surrounded by a group of youths. Witnesses saw Dawes hitting Mr Johnson on the head with both fists. He was also punched and kicked.

Dawes was held in custody and the teenagers were remanded to the care of the local authority.