A Hartlepool thug left a man with blood streaming down his face following a vicious attack. The event was filmed and the video footage later shared, in what a judge has slammed as "gratuitous degradation."

Anthony Ryan, 28, held the much small, younger man by his hair as he brutally beat him up on camera, on July 7, Teesside Crown Court heard. It is not known who filmed the beating, but the court heard that the attack happened at Ryan's home on Juniper Walk in Hartlepool .

On Thursday, Jenny Haigh, prosecuting, said that it appeared the victim's face had been cut but that there was no evidence of a knife on the video footage. The other man shouted directions to Ryan: "Kill him! kill him! Go on, you little scumbag. F****** kill the little c***."

The man then urged Ryan "cut his face.

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