A GANGSTER cleared 15 years ago of murdering a policeman from the North-East was yesterday sent to prison for the kidnap and torture of two men.

Mark Lambie, 30, was jailed for 12 years after being convicted of bundling two men at gunpoint into a car and taking them to a flat in Tottenham, London, where they were tortured with a hammer, electric iron and boiling water.

In 1987, Lambie was acquitted of murding Sunderland-born PC Keith Blakelock during the 1985 Broadwater Farm riots, London.

Three other gang members were sentenced to terms of between nine and 12 years.

During the latest trial, Lambie accused police of framing him and persecution since charges were dropped against him at the Old Bailey in 1987.

Lambie was 14 when he was charged with others of murdering PC Blakelock. Charges against him and two other juveniles were dropped during the 1987 trial.

Winston Silcott and two others were convicted, but later cleared on appeal because of police irregularities.

In court, Lambie's counsel, Stephen Kamlish, said: "He is a sometimes dishonest wheeler-dealer who, unfortunately for him, was charged in 1985 with the murder of Keith Blakelock, a name that every Met police officer will never forget. It is Mark Lambie's case they can't let that acquittal go."