Two men who attacked an English couple with a machete while they were on holiday in Ireland were today jailed for a total of over 16 years.
Jailing Elias Boswell (21) for seven and a half years and Patrick Mongan for nine years, Newry Crown Court Judge Randal McKay described the attack in Co Louth in June 2007 as "vicious and brutal".
Boswell, of no fixed address and Mongan, from White Rise in Dunmurry, had each pleaded guilty to wounding and inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent on James Fordyce (61) and his 56-year-old wife Kath and also to hijacking and setting fire to their Fiat campervan.
Boswell pleaded guilty to further charges of dangerous driving, failing to provide a specimen and no insurance while Mongan also pleaded guilty to four counts of assaulting constables.
The court heard that the couple, from Skegness in Lincolnshire, had travelled to Northern Ireland from Scotland on a weeks holiday on June 10th, 2007 and had parked in a layby in Co Louth, on the main Belfast to Dublin road.
Prosecuting QC Liam McCollum said the couple were woken from their sleep in the early hours by "banging and shouting" to the effect that "it was the border police - open up immediately".
However when Mr Fordyce opened the door, he was attacked with a machete and a window was smashed before he and his wife were "slung out" from the campervan.
Mrs Fordyce, said the lawyer, was pushed against a car before being knocked to the ground where she was kicked about the head and ribs and both she and her husband were knocked unconscious.
When they came round, they found their campvervan had been stolen.
Mr Fordyce suffered numerous cuts and bruises and a laceration to his left wrist which required plastic surgery to repair a tendon. Mrs Fordyce also suffered cuts, a depressed skull fracture and multiple broken ribs.
Their campervan was later found burnt out on the Drumintee Road in Meigh, south Armagh and the court heard that Boswell and Mongan were arrested at a police checkpoint driving a Volkswagen Passat.
A blood stained machete, along with the campervan keys, were uncovered in the car and forensic examinations matched the blood on it to Mr Fordyce.
During the course of the arrest Mongan, said the lawyer, attacked four policemen.
Defence lawyers for the pair said both were remorseful and regretted their actions and that each of their respective families had managed to scrap together a total of £10,000 each to give to the Fordyce's by way of apology and compensation.