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JAILED: Thug tortured long-time friend by setting his hands on fire

A vicious thug who tortured and robbed a vulnerable long-time friend has been locked up for 11 years.

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Nathan Nelson bound Matthew Lippett's hand and foot with a computer cable and gagged the 38-year-old who was punched and kicked.

The 26-year-old bully burned him on the face with a red hot fork and soaked the victim's hands with deodorant before setting them alight, a judge heard.

The ruthless attacker even had a video on his phone of him putting a long-bladed knife to the terrified man's face while threatening to slice his mouth into a 'Chelsea smile,' Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.

Finally he took around £100 cash from Mr Lippett and warned before leaving the victim's West Bromwich home at the end of the 15 minute ordeal: "Grass me up to the police and we will remove you from this earth," revealed Miss Amy Edinborough, prosecuting.

The defendant, who had known the victim for years, had been waiting at the address and pounced when the victim returned in the early hours of April 13.

Mr Lippett, who was left so scared he has now been forced to leave his home of 10 years, said in a statement: "I have since moved out of the area.

"I do not want to go back anywhere near where it happened because of the flash backs.

"I still worry about Nelson and his family finding me again but this means that I have had to leave the church I attended.

"That's very sad because it was a big part of my life."

Nelson, who was bailed by police pending further inquiries after being arrested on April 22, struck again on June 14 at the West Bromwich home of Ashley Adams.

He head butted the 20-year-old, threatened him with a knife and said: "Do you want me to slice you up?", before taking a TV, laptop and tablet along with a jacket, two phones and bank cards.

These were taken away in a taxi by Nelson's niece, Kayleigh Nelson and her friend Carly Leek, both 18, but he returned soon afterwards to demand the PIN code for one of the cards to withdraw £70 cash and buy beer.

He was rearrested three days later.

Mr Rashad Mohammed, defending, said Nelson had intended to frighten and not harm the two men whose injuries were not serious.

Nelson, from Westminster Road, Stone Cross, West Bromwich, admitted the two robberies.

Judge John Wait said he was a danger to the public.

Kayleigh Nelson, of the same address as her uncle, and Leek, from Walsall Road, West Bromwich, each received 18 month long community orders with either a four month night time curfew or 120 hours unpaid work after admitting handling stolen property.

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