A TEENAGER who began a drunken gang attack on three other youngsters in Kidderminster town centre has been sent to custody.

The victims were punched to the ground and repeatedly kicked and a bus driver who ran from his cab to help also suffered a flurry of blows.

Richard Shuck, 19, of Cobham Road, Kidderminster, was given 21 months detention after he pleaded guilty to affray.

Two accomplices, Mark Harris and Sam Neale, were given 16 months detention each at a previous court after admitting a similar charge.

The unprovoked attack took place after the violent trio were ejected from a snooker club in Green Street at 10pm on December 29, 2008.

Shuck, wearing a hoodie, instigated the attack, said Mary Wallace, prosecuting at Worcester Crown Court.

Two of the victims were left with boot imprints on their faces. All had head injuries although no bones were broken.

Bus driver, Paul Harvey, was also taken to hospital. He suffered rib injuries.

Shuck left the scene and was arrested at home at 3am the next day. He claimed it was a case of mistaken identity and at first denied he had been present.

Miss Wallace said he had a previous conviction for violence in March, 2007, when youths entered Top Tiles showroom in Kidderminster and began throwing tiles at the staff.

After police arrived, Shuck punched an officer, grabbed his CS gas canister and threatened to spray him.

Miss Wallace said that in another incident, Shuck kicked a community police officer, breaking a finger, and threatened a female officer that he would "knock her teeth out."

Jason Aris, defending, said Shuck had spent 104 days on remand and had found his first taste of custody "sobering and salutary."

His family was supportive but his mother did not condone his conduct.

Judge Richard Rundell said witnesses of the violence described the attackers as behaving like animals.

But he said it was unfair to animals to apply this description to a group fuelled by drink. Courts would not tolerate such behaviour on Kidderminster's streets.