Two 17-year-old youths who left an RAF serviceman badly injured after attacking him as he stepped off a bus were today found guilty of causing grievous bodily harm.

Peter Forrest, 24, was knocked unconscious and left with a badly broken ankle after being punched and kicked on his way home to RAF Brize Norton after a night out in Witney in February. The pair - who the Oxford Mail has been banned from naming by a Crown Court judge - were warned they could find themselves behind bars for the attack.

Reacting to the verdict, Mr Forrest said: "I am really pleased. It is good see justice being done.

"I hope they get a decent punishment"

The attack took place after the victim and his attackers, who had been drinking, caught the same bus home.

Mr Forrest said he was pleased that he could now draw a line under the incident - although his injuries would always remind him of his ordeal.

He said: "I am just about getting back to normal now. I have just started running again - I used to run every day - and I am just getting into it again. I have got seven screws and a plate in my leg and that is there for life."

The judge refused to lift reporting restrictions because she said it was not in the public interest for people to know who the defendants were, and because of the problems it would cause their families.

The two youths were granted bail until they are sentenced at the end of the July.