Three men accused of being in a car which deliberately ran over a 53-year-old man in a revenge attack following a brawl outside a pub in a north Suffolk town have been convicted of attempting to murder him.

Before Ipswich Crown Court on Thursday were Nathan Baker, 20, of Quay Street, Halesworth and Daniel Hermon, 26, and Lewis Aldridge, 27, who are both of Market Place, Southwold.

They all denied attempting to murder Julian Johnson in Beccles on November 28 last year but were found guilty by a jury after a two-week trial.

Judge Emma Peters adjourned sentence until June 17 and remanded all three defendants in custody.

She said they all faced "inevitable" prison sentences. 

During the trial, the court heard that after Baker was punched in the face outside the Wetherspoon pub in Beccles he and his two co-defendants attacked and deliberately ran over Mr Johnson, who had acted as peacekeeper in the earlier incident.

Mr Johnson, who had been walking home alone along London Road in Beccles, suffered fractures to his pelvis, ribs and vertebrae and could not move when he was found by police at 3am.

Judge Peters asked for a victim impact statement to be obtained from Mr Johnson before the sentencing hearing.

Giving evidence, Baker admitted kicking Mr Johnson while he was ion the ground and claimed he had  attempted to avoid Mr Johnson by reversing  his car.

He said he had been unable to see clearly because of his eye injury.

Hermon claimed he had tried to stop Baker running over Mr Johnson by leaning over and pushing the steering wheel.

Aldridge said he mistakenly thought Mr Johnson had attacked Baker earlier in the evening and admitted he had “stupidly” kicked him while he was on the ground.