Two brothers have avoided going straight to jail for attacking a “helpless” taxi driver.

Ismail and Haydar Ipek received suspended prison sentences for beating up fellow cabbie and former countryman Haydar Bayir.

Both admitted common assault at an earlier hearing and returned to Suffolk Magistrates' Court for sentencing on Wednesday.

Mr Bayir had been waiting for fares in Bury St Edmunds when approached by Ismail Ipek at about 1.30am on October 13.

Prosecutor Lesla Small said he was punched three or four times before falling to the ground, where he was kicked and stamped on by the brothers and a third man, before two taxi drivers intervened.

Mr Bayir was taken to hospital, bloodied and bruised, while the brothers offered no comment in voluntarily police interviews.

Mr Bayir later disclosed that the attack had left him scared to work and fearful of another attack.

"I've struggled to sleep and it continues to play on my mind," he said in a victim impact statement.

The court heard that neither 45-year-old Ismail Ipek, of Falcon Close, Haverhill, nor his brother, 37, of Burton Close, Haverhill, had any previous convictions.

Ellie Carter, mitigating, said the parties were known to each other, having grown up in the same Turkish village, and that Ismail Ipek had approached Mr Bayir to confront him on derogatory comments made about his wife.

"An ensuing argument became physical," she added, arguing that the assault was neither planned nor unprovoked.

"Haydar Ipek came over and thought his brother was being assaulted by the victim," she said.

"He accepts that none of this should have resulted in a physical altercation.

"Both were shocked to hear the psychological effects on the victim, having seen him back at work the following day.

"There's nothing to suggest anything has since happened to make him fear for his safety."

Magistrates called the attack "unprovoked and sustained", on a helpless victim, who was spared more serious harm "more through luck than judgement".

The brothers, both business owners and part-time taxi drivers, were handed 14-week prison sentences, suspended for a year, and each ordered to pay £500 in compensation.

A third man, Salman Eren, 31, of Trinity Avenue, Mildenhall, has denied being involved and will face trial next month.