Two volunteer police officers have spoken of the moment they were violently attacked while patrolling the streets of Colchester.

Special Inspector Robbie Boyle was assaulted and pushed into the road in front of moving traffic while responding to an incident in the town's High Street in January.

His colleague Special Constable Toby Romani was also assaulted when he came to SI Boyle's aid.

Essex Police has now released CCTV footage, as well as interviews wit the officers, following a conclusion of an investigation into the incident.

Jack Hudson, 20, of Bromley Close, Clacton, was jailed for six years in July for the unprovoked attack having admitted grievous bodily harm with intent and actual bodily harm at a hearing in April.

The special officers had been called to reports of a disturbance involving a group of men, where one of them, not Hudson, was believed to be threatening people with a broken bottle.

They were greeted by angry insults by Hudson who moments later head butted Mr Boyle.

One of the group then punched Mr Boyle again as another swept his legs away, giving Hudson the chance to run up and kick him in the head, knocking him out.

Mr Romani was also punched by Hudson, leaving him with a broken nose and a split lip.

Mr Boyle's jaw was broken in two places, with one fracture requiring facial surgery, and he suffered nerve damage to his knee, as well as losing three teeth.

Mr Boyle said: "28 years I have been doing it and I have been to all sorts of stuff but nothing where a group of guys like that who have just decided to attack emergency workers for no real reason."

Mr Romani said: "You hear about these stories of people being assaulted, police officers and all that, but they are so rare you never expect it to happen to you.

"I remember the fight being about a minute, so that minute has cost that guy six years of his life."

"For me I also had a brief moment where I thought about leaving because I just felt if I couldn't protect myself and a colleague how am I supposed to protect the public and everyone we come across and deal with.

"It definitely knocked me but the amount of support I received from officers all over the country and Essex Police occupational health trauma incident management team has helped a lot and eased all my worries."