Three pictures in the local press helped catch three men who attacked a homeless man as he slept rough in a Hampshire car park.

The Southern Daily Echo took the decision to print the pictures – taken from a CCTV camera trained on a multi-storey car park in Southampton.

Paul Pass, 44, and Dean Peat, 26, both of St Mary’s Road, Southampton, admitted assault causing actual bodily harm. Christopher Leyland, 37, also of St Mary’s Road, admitted stealing a holdall and its contents.

Pass was jailed for ten months and Leyland for nine months at Winchester Crown Court. Peat was remanded for pre-sentence reports.

All three men were recognised after still photographs from the video were published in the Daily Echo. The attackers were recognised by a reader who alerted police.

Detective Sergeant Paul Barton, of Southampton Central CID, who led the police investigation, said: “We would like to thank Southampton City Council for the usage of their CCTV system.

“Thanks must also go the Daily Echo and its readers, without whom we would probably have been unable to identify the three men caught on camera at the time.”

The attack victim was punched, kicked and prodded with a 5ft long wooden fence post when he was cornered at a car park in May.

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