A PAIR of intruders have admitted carrying out a revenge attack on a man who they falsely accused of stealing a van.

Matthew Bailey and Kevin Wilkinson went into Nicholas Loveridge’s house in Newton Abbot two days before Christmas in 2019 and assaulted him in his bed.

They believed he had stolen Wilkinson’s works van and Bailey punched him in the face before Wilkinson held him against his bedroom wall. They broke his glasses and fled with his iPhone and £40 cash after a third man who had followed them into the house persuaded them to leave.

The two men were tried for burglary in May this year but the jury were discharged for legal reasons on the second day of the hearing.

They returned to Exeter Crown Court for a retrial but the case was settled by the prosecution dropping the burglary charge and accepting guilty pleas to a less serious assault.

Bailey, aged 38, of Stemson Avenue, Exeter; and Wilkinson, aged 48, of Andersea Road, Westonzoyland, Somerset, both admitted common assault, theft and criminal damage and will be sentenced in the New Year.

Judge David Evans bailed them and ordered probation pre-sentence reports. He said the resolution of the case was a sensible decision.

Mr Brian Fitzherbert, for Bailey, and Mr William Parkhill, for Wilkinson, said both had been out of trouble for several years and that alternatives to immediate custody should be considered.

Mr Herc Ashworth, prosecuting, opened the case to the jury at the trial in May.

He said Mr Loveridge was asleep in bed in his room at a house at Sandygate, Newton Abbot, at around 11pm on December 23, 2019, when three men kicked open the door.

He said Mr Loveridge recognised the two defendants but not the third man, who did not take part in the attack or theft and who urged the other two to leave.

Mr Ashworth said Bailey got on the bed and started punching Mr Loveridge in the face while telling him ’you’ve got just one chance to tell me the truth’.

Wilkinson then grabbed and crushed Mr Loveridge’s spectacles before demanding to know where his van was. He showed him footage of a man in a hoodie getting into the van and claimed it was Mr Loveridge.

The men then left with Mr Loveridge’s £1,000 iPhone, two £20 notes which had been on his computer table, and the broken remains of his glasses.

In police interviews, both men accepted they had gone to the property but said they had not broken in and were allowed to be there because it is rented by Wilkinson’s brother, who was away at the time. They both denied stealing anything.