Two teenage members of a gang hid “in the shadows” before pouncing on three victims in a Canterbury park for their own “perverted amusement”.

The group – some of them armed with a chain, a knuckleduster and a weapon resembling a Bowie knife – lay in wait in Dane John Gardens in April last year.

As tree surgeons Matthew White and pal Joshua Buggins, 29, were strolling through with Australian tourist Aimee Fergusson, they were confronted by two young people who stopped them.

A jury heard how Owain Sim and Callum Tyndale were part of the group – thought to call themselves the CT2 gang –who launched an attack on the men.

As Ms Fergusson – who had only arrived in the UK that day – hid behind a tree, Mr Buggins was knocked to the ground before the gang turned on Mr White, leaving them both injured.

The judge Recorder Paul Taylor told them: “You were part of a group of young people who, late at night, set upon members of the public who had the misfortune of walking through the park.

“This park should be a place open to members of the public who should be able to walk through it without risk of being beaten up by groups of young men.”

He told Sim, 18, of Pine Tree Avenue and Tyndale, 17, of St Gregory Road, both Canterbury, that their attack had been “pre-planned”.

Both men had denied wounding with intent and were acquitted, but each was found guilty of unlawful wounding and assault.

Sim, who calls himself Hooli CT on Facebook, was found not guilty of possessing a chain but had admitted having a knuckleduster during the fight.

Prosecutor Craig Evans said Mr Buggins, the victim of the actual bodily harm, received cuts needing stitches.

He was pulled to the ground and punched in the eye.

Mr White was treated for a number of wounds including a near-severed ear caused by one of the other members of the group with a metal object.

The judge said: “Although the jury decided it wasn’t either of you who did that, the victim almost had his ear cut off.

“But this was a concerted attack, done for your own perverted amusement.

“If young people together decide they are going to attack other people and that weapons are going to be used, it matters not who actually had the knuckleduster, who had the piece of metal, who had the chain – they all pick up the bill.”

Phil Rowley, for Tyndale, said that after the trial he was remanded in custody awaiting sentence, adding: “Despite what people say, his experience inside did not resemble a holiday camp.

“He is very remorseful and presents himself now as a man who is distressed, vulnerable and scared.”

Nick Jones, for Sim, said he had moved from Lancashire to Kent at a time when his mother became ill and began smoking cannabis to excess and drinking.

“That led him to get involved in a peer group that were clearly anti-social,” he said.

Tyndale received a two-year detention and training order and Sim was sent to a young offenders’ institute for two years.