Two drunken brothers launched a violent and unprovoked attack on another man with an ashtray and a kitchen fork, a jury heard.

John Johnstone, 40, is accused of repeatedly smashing Stephen Mulheron over the head with the heavy glass ashtray while Mark Johnstone, 31, is accused of stabbing Mr Mulheron on the head with a fork.

The brothers have denied attacking Mr Mulheron at a flat in Portslade in October 2000.

Mr Mulheron told a Lewes Crown Court jury he feared for his life during the attack, which he said started for no reason when John Johnstone started hitting him over the head with the heavy pub ashtray after the men had spent the afternoon drinking together.

He said he fell back on to a sofa and tried to protect himself from the blows when Mark Johnstone came into the room and began stabbing his head with a fork.

Mr Mulheron said: "We were sitting there laughing and joking and then all of a sudden, out of the blue, it erupted.

"John Johnstone just kept striking me with the ashtray. He just jumped on top of me and just started whacking me more with the ashtray.

"Then Mark came in and started stabbing me.

"John was saying, 'You are getting done, pal. You are going to be dumped on the South Downs.'

"I struggled to get out of there to save my life."

Mr Mulheron, who fled from the flat in Downland Court covered in blood, said the attack happened during a visit to his uncle Anthony Meenan's flat, where Mark Johnstone was staying.

He had known the brothers for more than three years.

They all used to be street drinkers hanging around the Old Steine in Brighton.

He denied starting the fight after £10 belonging to his uncle went missing.

Mark Johnstone, of no fixed address, and John Johnstone, of Stephens Road, Brighton, have denied charges of unlawful wounding and wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

The trial continues.