Four thugs from Ipswich who attacked a soldier like a “pack of wolves” have become hate figures on social media.

A mocked-up poster branding Jerran Hart, of Ravenswood Avenue, Adam Poulter, of no fixed address, Jamie Duncan, of Damselfly Road, and Matthew Kersey, of Campbell Road, as ‘thieving soldier beaters’ is being ‘retweeted’ Twitter.

It urges people to ‘Shame the scum who pray (sic) on those who defend their very lives’, before labelling all four as ‘cowards’.

The quartet were jailed at Ipswich Crown Court after Jack Shilton, a soldier from Wattisham Airfield, was punched in the face and kicked in the head by five men who stole his wallet and phone.

As the 21-year-old lay unconscious after the late-night attack in Queens Way, Ipswich, his attackers were seen “bumping fists” as if they were proud of what they had done, the court was told.

Jailing the four men in November, Judge Rupert Overbury described them as acting like “a pack of wolves determined on its prey” and said there was an element of degradation in the way one of the men kicked Mr Shilton as he lay on the ground and another dragged him along the road by his underwear.

“While your victim has served this country, your country, in Afghanistan, to protect you and the rest of us from the threat of future harm, you have behaved in a cowardly and despicable fashion. Each of you is a disgrace to your family and a disgrace to your community.

Hart, 22, and Poulter, 26, denied robbing Mr Shilton on June 6, but were found guilty by a jury after a trial in September. Poulter was jailed for three years and nine months and Hart was jailed for three years and six months.

Kersey, 30, who admitted robbing Mr Shilton and assaulting his friend Peter Scott was imprisoned for 32 months, and Duncan, who admitted robbery, was jailed for 30 months.

The court had been told when Mr Shilton came round after the attack he had blood coming from his mouth. He ran to a nearby house for help and was taken to hospital suffering from a bruised kidney, lumps on his head and suspected broken ribs.

A fifth man Mitchell Ambrose, 20, of Huckleberry Crescent, pleaded guilty to robbery and was jailed for 40 months at his sentencing in last month.