A karate-kicking attack victim has told of her “complete relief” after two men were jailed.

Kelly Soutar, 29, was followed home from a nightclub by Shehab Smekramuddin and Mohammad Islam before they struck.

Ms Soutar, a welder who has a brown belt in karate, punched, headbutted and kicked the duo before making off.

During a trial at Dundee Sheriff Court, prosecutor Eilidh Robertson told a jury: “She admitted she punched one of the men – kicked him in the b***s in her words.”

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Smekramuddin and Islam were both jailed for three years on Wednesday and face deportation to their native Bangladesh when their sentences end.

Speaking outside court, Ms Soutar said she hoped her story would encourage other women to take self-defence classes .

The member of Dundee’s Kanzen Karate club said: “I was wearing my karate club hoodie at the time – I wouldn’t have started on me.

“I’m glad it is over with and it’s satisfying that they got a sentence and didn’t get away with it.”

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The trial heard how the pair stood outside the Royal nightclub in Forfar town centre staring at her before she left to walk home.

CCTV footage shown in court showed her walking home with the two men following around 200 yards behind.

She hung around the built-up area until she thought they had given up and disappeared before resuming her journey 20 minutes later.

But Islam approached again outside a park close to her home and Smekramuddin leapt over a wall and grabbed her.

Jailed: Shehab Smekramuddin and Mohammad Islam. Kingdom News

Speaking after the trial, Ms Soutarsaid: “The younger one came towards me and I kneed him in the groin.

“When he came towards me again I punched him in the face.

“At that point the guy who was holding me pushed me to the ground so I was flat on my stomach and the other one had come in and was breathing on my head.

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“I lifted my head. I don’t which of the two I connected with but I just struggled.

“We have been taught self defence stuff in class, especially if you are down on the ground.

“Muscle memory took over and my body just reacted on its own.

“I managed to dislodge the guy off my back and as soon as he was off balance I pushed him away and just ran.”

Islam, 28, and Smekramuddin, 59, both prisoners at HMP Perth, denied a charge of assault with intent to rape on September 17 last year.

After a three-day trial a jury found both men guilty of assault, with the allegation that they intended to rape the woman deleted from the charge.

Defence advocates for the pair said they had both left Bangladesh as “political refugees” and had been in the UK for years, both ending up working at an Indian restaurant in Forfar where they met.

However, both maintained their denials of having any involvement in the attack.

Sheriff Linda Smith said: “At the trial I heard the victim – the young woman assaulted by you – give evidence and have seen the effects your involvement in this matter has had on her.

“It is clear that the jury convicted you of assaulting this young woman, who was followed and then attacked on her way home from a night out.”