Four Polish burglars who "savagely" beat lecturer Paul Kohler during a raid on his house in south London have been jailed.

Paul Kohler (55) was left almost unrecognisable after the attack, suffering a fractured eye socket, a fracture to his left jawbone, a broken nose and bruising .

He was attacked by four burglars after they burst into his home in Wimbledon on August 11th last year.

His wife, Samantha MacArthur, was also threatened during the attack, while one of his daughters, Eloise (24), was upstairs with her boyfriend Geraint at the time. They were able to hide and call the police.

Pawel Honc (24) of no fixed address, and Mariusz Tomaszewski (32) of Crusoe Road, Mitcham, south London, were both sentenced to 19 years in prison.

They had admitted grievous bodily harm with intent and aggravated burglary.

Oskar Pawlowicz (30) of Pitcairn Road in Mitcham, and Dawid Tychon (29) of no fixed address, were both jailed for 13 years after pleading guilty to aggravated burglary.

None showed any reaction as they were sentenced at Kingston Crown Court.

Judge Susan Tapping said the four men had targeted Mr Kohler's house either because they thought they would find items of "significant value" to steal, or else because they had mistakenly chosen the wrong address to collect a debt.

She said all of them had been under the influence of drink or drugs at the time.

Giving a witness statement on Thursday ahead of the sentencing, Mr Kohler said the attack had nothing to do with the men's nationality or status as immigrants and everything to do with their "mindless thuggery".

However, the academic, who is head of law at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, said he wanted to hear from them exactly why they had targeted him.

Judge Tapping said: "This explanation would help them all but your mitigation did not help at all or was at odds with what others had said."

"Without this explanation he understandably questions the true value of any remorse expressed."