A MAN was attacked with a fence post after singing songs about Reading in a Didcot pub.

Martin Rendell and Adam Purse lay in wait for the victim after a group of men from the Berkshire town sang “We’re Reading, we’re Reading, we’ll kick your head in” at the Wallingford Arms, in Broadway.

Jamie Mills, who suffered a suspected fractured cheekbone and broken nose in the attack, had been part of a group of men singing the song on August 21, Oxford Crown Court heard on Friday.

Recorder Andrew Burrows told the two 20-year-olds: “You were both found guilty after trial of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and you, Martin Rendell, of having an offensive weapon.

“The incident occurred in the early hours of August 21. The victim, Jamie Mills, was with a group of friends who had come from Reading to the Wallingford Arms in Didcot.

“They had been drinking there and when leaving there was some argument outside with lads from Didcot, including you, Adam Purse.

“The Reading group were chanting, ‘We’re Reading, we’re Reading, we’ll kick your effing heads in’. The police were there and told the group to disperse.”

Mr Burrows said Mr Mills was later walking with a friend to a house in Didcot “as three or four males jumped out” and attacked him.

He said: “Martin Rendell, you were there with a piece of wood, part of a fence post.

“Having been told by Jamie Mills and his friend that they didn’t want any trouble, you said ‘let’s have it’ and smashed Jamie Mills across the face and side of the head with the wood, hitting him more than once.

“You, Adam Purse, then punched him to the head more than once while he was on the floor.”

Mr Mills’s glasses were smashed, he was knocked unconscious and he needed hospital treatment.

Graham Bennett, defending, Purse, of Malvern Close,said: “The Reading group were plainly aggressive towards the Didcot group and challenged them in aggressive fashion before the violence ever took place.

“It was never Mr Purse's intention that matters should develop in this way.”

James Reilly, defending Rendell, of The Oval, said it was “a drink-fuelled matter – a one-off”.

Rendell, who was jailed for three years in 2008 for wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm in Grove, was jailed for three years.

Purse was jailed for two years.

Mr Burrows said: “No doubt alcohol played a part for both of you, but that’s no excuse, nor is the fact that there was some aggressive singing by the Reading group.”