THERE has been outrage after members of a baying mob who viciously attacked four innocent people “like a pack of wild animals” in Halesowen escaped jail.

Details of the sickening incident can now be revealed after four members of the near 20 strong mob pleaded guilty for affray concerning the public disorder after the England and Germany World Cup match in June 2010.

Three men and a woman returning from the Rose and Crown pub were “ambushed” on Hagley Road after an earlier altercation with a female driver.

During the attack the males suffered a sustained beating with weapons and even had slabbing thrown at them and the ordeal only ended when the sound of police sirens dispersed the group.

Mr Edward Soulsby prosecuting at Wolverhampton Crown Court said: "They were ambushed by this co-ordinated group and were attacked with one witness describing their behaviour as being like a pack of wild animals."

Wail Shaddad, aged 25, of Drews Holloway, who is a youth worker and committee member at the Halesowen Yemeni Community Association, Mohammed Ali, aged 22 and Abdulwahab Ali, 25, both of Yew Tree Road and Ali Hassan Ali, aged 26, of Islington were all given a 52 week jail term suspended for two years, each told to carry out 150 hours community punishment.

All will also have to contribute towards the £800 compensation awarded to one of the attacked men.

The sentences enraged victim Robert Perrott, aged 48, who claims the incident ruined his and wife’s life.

He said: “This has been an absolute nightmare from start to finish and all our lives have been ruined because of what happened that day.

“But attack was just the start of the ordeal because of so many mistakes by the Crown Prosecution Service and the police, at one stage we thought we would never get to court.”

He added: “But to go through the whole system just to see the people who could have killed us walk out of court is totally wrong.

What more do you have to do in this country to get a jail sentence?”

The Judge, Amjad Nawaz at Wolverhampton Crown Court, told the defendants they were lucky not to be sent to jail.

He said: "Some of these people had sticks, pool cues and stones and the use of those weapons in a mob environment in which people are threatened is a recipe for disaster."

The Judge told them it was clear the mob had been marshalled but he ruled he was just able to allow them to retain their freedom because it had been over two years since the offence and they had all kept out of trouble with police.