Pair kept man prisoner and tortured him over £120

Two men who held a man prisoner and tortured him for almost two days over a stolen £120 have been jailed.

Liam McHugh, 26, and Nathan Beecroft, 37, repeatedly waterboarded the man and attacked him with weapons including a metal bar, paint stripper and a cheese grater, Newcastle Crown Court heard.

The victim said he believed the pair would kill and "get rid" of him, adding they were "just coming up with different ways to hurt" him.

The men, both from Stakeford near Ashington, Northumberland, admitted false imprisonment, with McHugh jailed for five years and Beecroft for four years nine months.

Warning: This article contains descriptions some readers may find distressing

McHugh, of Osier Court, had invited the man, who was a friend and worked with him as a carpet fitter, to live in his two-bedroom flat, prosecutor Joe Culley said.

After a night taking drink and drugs together on 15 June last year, the victim stole £120 from McHugh to buy more cocaine, the court heard.

When McHugh discovered the theft, he attacked the man and locked him in their bathroom before summoning Beecroft to join them, the court heard.

The pair used a soaked towel around the man's face for up to a minute at a time to simulate drowning in an ordeal known as waterboarding, the court heard.

They repeated the process at least 20 times over a 90-minute period, Culley said.

Beecroft, of Liddle Street, "alternated the torture" with being friendly, such as giving the man a vape or showing him music videos on his phone, the court heard.

The man was threatened with a bush cutter, doused in paint stripper and repeatedly punched and kicked, the court heard.

At one point, they took the man out to try to get £600 from the victim's family but returned and tied him up at the flat when that was unsuccessful, the court heard.

The pair also attacked him with a cheese grater, metal bar, cup of hot tea and cigarettes, the court heard, while his head and eyebrows were also shaved.

The ordeal came to an end when McHugh's mother contacted the police, with officers finding the man bound with plastic wire by the wrists and ankles in a bedroom, the door of which was held shut by a mop.

The man suffered injuries including lacerations, burns, bruises and irritated skin, Culley said.

In a statement read to the court, the victim said McHugh had been his best friend and "like a brother" before the attack.

"When I was tied up and locked away I thought I was going to die," the man said, adding: "I honestly did not think I was going to come out of it, it was very scary.

"I felt like a crash test dummy.

"They were just coming up with different ways to hurt me."

Recorder Andrew Latimer said the man's ordeal had been "dreadful" and "frightening".

Restraining orders banning the men from contacting the victim were made to last for 10 years.

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