TWO men who kidnapped and tortured a Burnhope man were jailed for a total of 30 years.

Paul Flannigan was beaten so badly during his ordeal that surgeons later had to remove one of his testicles.

Newcastle Crown Court heard how three men in balaclavas had burst into Mr Flannigan's home in Burnhope Lodge, near Stanley, at around 3.30am on March 15, last year.

The assault that followed left his blood splashed all over the bedroom walls and bathroom.

His attackers then covered his head with a hood and dragged him at gunpoint into a car. He was taken to Liverpool, where he was subjected to hours of torture and threats, before being released.

Last Thursday, Judge Maurice Carr sentenced Liverpool gangsters John Henry Haase, 48, and Daniel Michael Lafferty, 42, for their part in the incident. He told the pair: "Each of you participated in violence to order. You were prepared to mete out significant violence to people whom you did not know."

Peter Johnson, prosecuting, said Lafferty, Haase, and a third, unknown man, had driven from Liverpool to Burnhope in Lafferty's own car, a silver Ford Focus. A CCTV camera fitted to Mr Flannigan's house had picked up Lafferty and Haase outside his door on the evening of March 14.

They knocked and found no one home, so retired to a pub in nearby Maiden Law.

Mr Flannigan returned from a night out shortly after 2am. At about 3.30am, the CCTV cameras recorded three men wearing balaclavas approaching the house. They kicked in the door, severely beat their victim and abducted him. The kidnappers eventually contacted the victim's father, David Flannigan, who picked up his injured son outside a pub on the outskirts of Liverpool.

Mr Flannigan, a scaffolder, was treated at Durham's University Hospital for two broken fingers, plus extensive facial and head injuries. Surgeons also operated to remove his badly damaged right testicle.

During the trial, he told the court it was a 'complete mystery' as to why he was targeted by the gang.

When police arrested Lafferty, they found bloodstains on his coat and in his car that were later DNA matched to Mr Flannigan. They also traced calls from Lafferty's mobile phone to the victim's father.

Det Insp Shaun McElvaney, of Durham Constabulary's organised crime unit, said: "These men were clearly hired by organised criminals to recover debts, and were prepared to use significant violence to do it.

"We are very pleased with the sentence. It reflects the level of violence they were prepared to use on complete strangers."

The judge also sentenced the pair for their part in a shooting outside a Cheshire pub also in March last year.

A jury found Haase guilty of five offences relating to the two incidents, at Newcastle Crown Court in July: kidnapping, two charges of wounding with intent, possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life, and possession of a firearm likely to cause a fear of violence. He was sentenced to a total of 16 years.

Cocaine addict Lafferty, a former mental nurse with no previous convictions, had pleaded guilty to kidnapping and two charges of wounding with intent. He had also been found guilty of a bungled attempt to extort £30,000 from a north-west businessman. He was sentenced to a total of 14 years.