TWO thugs who attacked a young man on a bike as he was on his way to play a game of Pokemon Go with his pals have been jailed.

Scott Simmonds and Chelsea Whaley were told by Judge Niclas Parry they were guilty of a “nasty, cowardly attack” as he handed them respectively sentences of 15 months and 18 months in prison.

Mold Crown Court heard how they targeted their young victim, Matthew McCarthy, near to a coastal pathway at Dock Road in Connah’s Quay after he had left his home to join in the game.

Prosecuting barrister Matthew Dunford said that as Mr McCarthy went down the path near to a recycling centre he came across Whaley who blocked his way.

She accused him of sleeping with someone “behind her back” and although it made no sense to him she punched him. Simmonds joined in the attack and punched the victim in the face and he fell off his bike.

“Both defendants continued punching him and tried kicking him – he thought he was kicked in the face and was shouting “I haven’t done anything”. They kept dragging him back down and he felt he was passing out,” said Mr Dunford. “It was a sustained and repeated assault.”

Whaley shouted at Mr McCarthy: “Give us your phone and give us your money.”

The victim’s phone dropped out of his pocket and his glasses fell off his face during the attack. He managed to run away, leaving his bike behind, and was discovered by a passerby - who called the police - covered in blood.

Simmonds needed to be tasered by officers as he put up a struggle before he was arrested.

Mr McCarthy, who suffered facial injuries, said in a victim impact statement that his nose was sore for the next three weeks.

“It has affected me in that after the attack I was going out as normal but I then felt paranoid and it triggered a period of depression.

“I fear meeting Whaley and Simmonds again,” he stated.

Simmonds, 30, formerly of Salisbury Street, Shotton admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm on October 28 last year. Whaley, 24, formerly of Dean’s Avenue, Connah’s Quay, pleaded guilty to attempted robbery on the same date.

The court was told Whaley was already serving a custodial sentence imposed in January this year and had previous convictions for theft and burglary.

Her barrister Myles Wilson told the court: “She is clearly a troubled young woman and she has self-harmed in prison.

“She has not coped with the uncertainty of when she is being released. But she has made efforts in prison and she knows she has to stop drinking.”

Defence barrister Philip Clemo said that Simmonds also had problems with alcohol.

“It was particularly bad at this time as his mother had passed away and he was self-medicating wracked by grief.

“He has time to reflect and is ashamed. He had two loving parents but alcohol has been his master not his servant,” said MrClemo.

Judge Parry told the pair their sentences would have to be served consecutively to their current custodial punishments. Whaley was already serving a two-year sentence for wounding, assault and criminal damage offences, while Simmonds was sentenced to a year in prison last December for criminal damage and possession of a bladed article. He was also banned from his hometown, Flint, for four years under a Criminal Behaviour Order.

The judge told them: “This young man was simply riding his bike down an alleyway going to see his friends. He was repeatedly attacked and kicked.”

And he told Simmonds that he was “extremely fortunate” that his plea to assault had been accepted as “the difference between yours and your co-defendant’s involvement seems minimal.”