A national deafblind charity has condemned the attack on an Ipswich man which saw him pushed onto a railway track.

The 31-year-old victim, who is profoundly deaf and partially sighted, and his 28-year-old brother, were assaulted at Chelmsford Railway Station in February, during which they were thrown onto the line and punched as they tried to climb to safety.

Two north Essex men, Daniel Webster, 23, of Colchester Road, Coggeshall, and Niall Martin, 24, of Speedwell Road, Colchester, were sentenced to 22 months and nine months in jail respectively during a Chelmsford Crown Court hearing on Wednesday for the attack.

National charity Sense has today condemned the thugs’ actions.

Richard Kramer, deputy chief executive, said: “This was a shocking incident and we are appalled that a person with both sight and hearing loss was attacked in this way because of his disability.

“It is right and proper that the two men have now been brought to justice.

“We know that disabled people may well experience abuse, intimidation or assault. Recent Home Office statistics revealed that there were more than 1,800 reports of disability hate crime in 2012-3.

“Such attacks can have a major impact on people’s lives and more needs to be done to tackle hate crime against disabled people.”