Two torture gang members who put a father-of-two through a degrading four-hour ordeal using a fire extinguisher in Baldock have been jailed for a total of 16 years.

Darren Barker, 35, and Carl Tomlin, 26, took the man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, hostage on April 21 last year after luring him to a house in Woodland Way, Baldock.

They bound, gagged and tied him to a chair before beating him about the head with frying pans, wood and bottles. Cigarettes were stubbed out on his face and backside and a foam fire extinguisher pushed up his anus and set off.

The victim, from Chalk Farm, London, managed to escape through a window after being held for four hours.

Still covered in gaffer tape and cloth bindings he ran to a nearby building site to raise the alarm. Neighbours watched as he clambered across their gardens chased by two men.

At the Old Bailey last week, Barker from Watford was convicted of false imprisonment and two counts of GBH. He was given a total of 10 years after also being sentenced for perverting the course of justice and dishonesty offences.

Peterborough bodybuilder Tomlin admitted his part in the hostage taking before the trial began in November. He was jailed for six years.

Judge Paul Worsley QC said the men were hired by a drug dealer known as CJ to teach a rival “a lesson he would not forget”.

He told the offenders: “When he arrived he was immediately attacked by you and others. It was a vicious attack involving at least five people. He was attacked about the head with heavy pans, bottles, wood and part of a radiator.

“He was kicked in the head and when on the ground he was dragged into an empty room and put onto the bed. He was burned with cigarette ends on his face and buttocks.

“He suffered as a result a suspected fractured nose, a badly swollen and bruised face, a bite mark to his arm, bruising on his face and buttocks and a suspected fracture of the area around his eye.

“At some stage his trousers and pants were removed and a 42mm nozzle of a fire extinguisher pushed up his backside.

“At a pressure of 217 pounds per square inch most of the foam was emptied into his back passage.

“Had he not escaped there would have been even more gratuitous pain and humiliation.”