3 April 2012 Last updated at 09:33 ET

Ex-paratrooper Anthony Malone jailed over torture

Malone, a former soldier, thanked the judge after being sentenced

A former paratrooper has been jailed for eight years for taking part in the kidnap and torture of two brothers after a property deal collapsed.

Mohammed and Haq Narwaz were whipped and hit with a hammer in a nine-hour ordeal which began in Stoke Newington, north-east London, in April 2007.

Anthony Malone, 40, was sentenced at Snaresbrook Crown Court.

Malone, of Teesside, was found guilty of kidnap, false imprisonment and actual bodily harm.

His accomplice, Ranjit Gojra, 40, of Belvedere, Kent, was convicted of actual bodily harm and sentenced to 30 months in jail.

Malone, from Billingham, fled to Afghanistan following the offences and was jailed for two years in Kabul's Pol-I-Charki jail for owing local businessmen money before returning to the UK.

He thanked Judge Martin Zeidman QC after being sentenced.

Mohammed Narwaz, then aged 27, was involved in a row about the financing of the property deal and a meeting was set up to resolve it, the jury heard.

He took along his brother Haq, then 51, and they were confronted by Malone, Gojra and another man.

Gojra began shouting that Mohammed owed money before he and Malone searched the victims and took off some of their clothes. The former soldier used handcuffs to secure their hands and legs.

Lit blowtorch

A sack was placed over Mohammed's head and Gojra punched him in the face, the court heard.

Ranjit Gojra was convicted of actual bodily harm

Haq was covered with a hood before he was punched and slapped, while Malone poured alcohol over Mohammed's head and a lit blowtorch was held within millimetres of his right eye.

Mohammed was hit on the legs with a hammer and attacked with a jug before being kicked and stamped on.

The attack continued until the battered brothers were bundled into the back of a van and driven around London for several hours.

They were eventually dumped in a residential street in Chelsea, south-west London.

Judge Zeidman told Malone: "You were adamant, as you still are, that you did nothing wrong - there is no mitigation of a guilty plea.

"Given the cruelty of your involvement and taking into account all the factors I have decided the least possible total sentence is eight years."