A dad who was savagely kidnapped and tortured by men posing as police officers has said “it would have been easier to have been killed” because of the psychological damage he now suffers.
A gang of men beat the victim using metal batons, attacked him with a machete, stabbed and poured boiling water over him, and burnt him with an iron during the “depraved” premeditated 18-hour attack on July 26 last year.
The attackers, dressed in hats, radios and armed vests, had put the father under fake arrest and bundled him into their stolen Audi A3.
This week, David Kelly, Liam Field, John Hayter and a 17-year-old were sentenced to more than 40 years in custody, collectively.
After hitting him with a metal pole, the group aged 17 to 41 told the victim that they were not real officers, adding “it is going to be a long night”, the Liverpool Echo reported.
The victim, 33, was tortured in woodlands and then in a house before being rescued by police officers in a raid at around 6pm the following day.
He was found with multiple serious injuries and he was taken to hospital for treatment, police said.
The group repeatedly called the victim’s family to demand £200,000, and made them endure screams of pain from their loved one over the phone.
In a victim impact statement read out at Liverpool Crown Court, the dad, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said: “I don’t see a light at the end of the tunnel.
“I don’t see how my life will ever be normal. I am constantly reminded by what happened to me.
He has been left unable to breathe properly and struggles to sleep at night, Judge Gary Woodall said.
“These events have pushed his wife and their marriage to the brink and she said her husband is now a shell of the man he was.
“The ordeal has left the family feeling like they have been punished,” Woodall said.
The dad added that he fears he will be kidnapped when he goes out at night.
His wife, who also cannot be named, told the court: “I have never felt unable to keep my children safe...now I am unsure about our futures.
“My children have missed out on their schooling, they now suffer with anxiety.”
She added that she wished she could “delete the last eight months of my life”.
The 17-year-old boy was sentenced to five years detention for false imprisonment and possession with intent to supply heroin and crack cocaine.
Prosecutor Peter Hussey said: “The victim suffered a series of injuries including burns to his shoulder and elbow after boiling water was poured on him, his left eye had been gouged by a piece of wooden pole, he had been cut with knives, had swelling to his face a fractured arm and lacerations to his kneecaps.”
Detective Chief Inspector Ian Warlow, of Merseyside Police, said: “It is pleasing to know that these four males will now spend a long time behind bars, where they belong.
“This was a sickening, premediated and sustained assault that not only left the victim with multiple injuries all over his body, but would have been absolutely terrifying and the psychological scars will last a lifetime.
“The fact such a depraved attack was planned in such detail, and was done in an attempt to extract cash from the man’s loved ones, only makes it more shocking.”