Two men who viciously attacked an English couple who were holidaying in Co Louth have been jailed for over 16 years in total.
Patrick Mongan was sentenced to nine years and Elias Boswell to seven and a half years after admitting assaulting James and Kath Fordyce from Lincolnshire in England.
The holidaymakers were asleep in their campervan in a lay by at Carrickarnon on the main Belfast to Dublin road when three men burst in.
Mrs Fordyce suffered a fractured skull and her husband sustained a broken leg and serious cuts after they were attacked with machetes.
The assailants then stole the couple’s possessions and the motorhome, which was later found burnt-out across the border in south Armagh.
Boswell and Mongan were arrested later at a PSNI checkpoint.
Defence lawyers said the accused were remorseful and regretted their actions.
They had brought £10,000 (€12,075.50) each into court to give the Fordyce's by way of apology and compensation.
