TWO men from Chulmleigh have been jailed for a prolonged attack on a transgender woman who was kicked in the head as she slept rough in the centre of Exeter.

James Wilson and William Edward had been drinking with the victim in the early hours of the morning when they both got up and launched a brutal attack as she lay helpless in a sleeping bag outside the Guildhall.

They were filmed on CCTV taking turns to punch the woman before each aiming kicks and stamps which left her with multiple fractures in her face and a bleed on the brain.

They broke off the attack at one point before they both resumed it with increased savagery.

The victim, who is in her 30s, needed extensive hospital treatment and wrote a personal statement in which she said: “It felt like my head was going to explode. I am in a lot of pain and feel very vulnerable.”

Wilson, aged 22, and Edward, aged 23, both of Chulmleigh, admitted attempting to cause grievous bodily harm with intent and were jailed for five years and six months and five years and four months respectively by Judge Stephen Climie at Exeter Crown Court.

He told them: “Each of you could be facing life imprisonment. It is just good fortune that the victim went to hospital and recovered. I have seen far less serious assaults result in death.”

Miss Feleena Grosvenor. Prosecuting, said the attack took place on January 17 this year after the two men had been talking to the victim and another rough sleeper outside the Guildhall in Exeter.

CCTV showed them getting up and attacking the woman, both punching and kicking her repeatedly in the head over a period of around five minutes.

Miss Grosvenor said: “We say this is a case of higher culpability because she was particularly vulnerable because the victim was a transgender female who was homeless and sleeping rough. It was a prolonged assault using their bodies as weapons, straddling her, and kicking and stamping.”

Miss Zoe Kuyken, for Wilson, said there was no suggestion that the victim’s transgender status had anything to do with the attack and that this was not a hate crime.

She said Wilson had a very difficult childhood with his mother using heroin and his father killed in a murder in Bristol. He has mental health issues and autism.

Mr William Parkhill, for Edward, said he is also a care leaver with a troubled childhood who had received support from the Amber Foundation before leaving the project and finding himself homeless in Exeter.