A homeless man who had been beaten up by two men ran into an amusement arcade in Ipswich town centre in the early hours of the morning begging for help, a court has heard.

The man entered Merkur Slots at 4am on March 4 this year seeking refuge and screaming “help me, help me, they are going to kill me”, Ipswich Crown Court heard.

A member of staff described the man as “distressed” and said she could see injuries to his face, said Archie MacKay, prosecuting.

He said the victim, who had been assaulted at a property where he had been sofa-surfing, was found to have multiple injuries, including cuts to his face and nose, swelling to his eye and hands and a cut to his ear.

Mr MacKay said the victim had also lost some teeth but there was no independent medical evidence about this.

Before the court on Monday were Norice West, 31, and Danzel Hurd, 39, both of no fixed address.

They admitted assaulting the victim causing him actual bodily harm.

West also admitted assaulting an emergency worker in July last year.

They were each jailed for 50 weeks and West was jailed for two weeks to be served consecutively for the assault on the emergency worker.

The court heard that the defendants had been in custody for several months and would be released soon.

In addition to being jailed, they were banned from contacting the victim for five years.

Sentencing the men, Recorder Richard Conley said the victim had been left “battered and bloodied” by the "two on one attack” at an address where he could have expected to be safe.

He added: “He was homeless but nevertheless had found a place to stay. You invaded that space and carried out a serious assault on him, striking a number of blows and causing injuries.”

The court heard that the defendants and the victim had connections with the Ipswich drug community.