The killers of a man who succumbed to horrific injuries inflicted on him in a drunken hostel fight five and a half years earlier have been sentenced over his murder.

Arshad Ali, 55, died in June 2015. In December 2009 he was attacked and left permanently disabled by Darren Atkinson, 48, and Neil Boyle, 46, when all three were staying at a St Pancras hostel.

In 2010, Atkinson and Boyle were jailed on GBH charges, but after Mr Ali died in 2015, murder charges were brought after a post-mortem revealed head injuries from the 2009 assault contributed significantly towards his death.

The trial judge ruled Boyle unfit to stand trail, and he has been sentenced under Sections 37 and 41 of the Mental Health Act while Atkinson was told he will serve 18 years in prison with time already spent behind bars taken into account.

Det Insp James Howarth, said: “This needless and ferocious assault left Mr Ali suffering terrible injuries that meant he was unable to ever return to a full life.”