Old age or infirmity will be the only routes to freedom for a gangster described as "cruel, heartless and sadistic".

Carlon Robinson, 27, was given two life sentences at the Old Bailey for a summer of torture in Sussex.

Judge David Stokes told Robinson: "You are one of those rare human beings who have almost no redeeming features, caring nothing for the feelings of anyone else."

The way Robinson tortured and degraded victims "almost beggars belief", the judge said.

"Intimidation is for you a way of life and, from what I witnessed, I am constrained to say it may very well be only old age or infirmity will permit your release."

Outside the court, Detective Superintendent Chris Buckell said: "I have never come across anyone as sadistic and evil as Robinson. We believe he had many more victims who did not come forward.

"His undoing came when he moved to Brighton and people there contacted police after a summer of terror."

Robinson and accomplice Nolan Atkins, 25, pistol-whipped victims, beat them, poured boiling water over them and threatened to slice off genitals as they hunted for cash and drugs.

Christopher Flux was threatened with a gun and a hot iron at his home in Havelock Road, Eastbourne.

Yesterday, Mr Flux said: "Justice has been done. The judge's words and sentence were excellent and I just hope Robinson never gets free. He is sick and dangerous and now he's out of the way, I can start the process of recovery."

Mr Flux was hit on his forehead with a gun and tied up on the floor. His trousers were removed and a knife was put to his genitals. He was told: "I will cut your dick off."

Robinson, of Merton Court, Brighton Marina, put a bullet in a gun and said he would kill Mr Flux's family and friends.

Mr Flux, 28 and an interior designer, thought he was going to die. He said: "They tied up me and my friends and beat the crap out of me with pistols, hitting me round the head and stamping on me.

"It was the longest two hours of my life."

Raised in Newhaven, Mr Flux, who still lives in Eastbourne, will carry a scar on his forehead for the rest of his life. He also takes sleeping pills and medication for depression.

Robinson, known as "Jigger" and Atkins, a Londoner who was jailed for 15 years, were trying to head up a Sussex-wide drugs empire using extreme violence.

The half-brothers burst into the homes of people they thought were on the fringe of the drugs world and terrorised them for information about dealers. They picked on nine innocent people at three Sussex addresses and some were left with horrific wounds Their reign of terror ran from July to October 2001, in Brighton, Eastbourne and Brixton, south London.

It began at a house in Portland Street, Brighton.

There, the gunmen tied up and assaulted Ignatius Powell. They threatened to cut off his penis, which was prodded with a knife before boiling water was poured over it.

As others returned to the house, they were also assaulted. Boiling water was poured over Adam Slade's back.

The men went on to Eastbourne the following month and demanded money from a man they knew.

They ended up in a flat in Ceylon Place where a number of men were beaten and rob-bed at gunpoint.

At the address in Havelock Road, were Mr Flux and his then girlfriend Sue Coombes, 17, and a friend Dave Lee.

Miss Coombes was tied up and forced to watch the beatings. She later suffered depression and began self-harming. She said: "They ruined all our lives. I just can't see any future for me."

Mr Lee, 26, a psychiatric nurse at Eastbourne District General Hospital at the time, was tied up and forced to lay face down in the lounge with his friends. He thought he was going to die.

He said: "I was hit on the forehead with a gun and round the face."

Mr Lee, who is now living with his family in Yorkshire, is also on sleeping pills and said he freaked out every time he saw anyone resembling Robinson or Atkins.

He said: "I get flashbacks. I can't sleep at night and just wander round the house."

A gun found by police after a tie-up robbery in Worthing was linked later to two shootings in London. In the trouser pocket, there was a stocking mask which carried Robinson's DNA.

Another victim in Worthing was recruitment manager Sabeena Surrey, 39, who fell for Robinson in August, 2001. She lost £55,000 and her BMW to him during their brief relationship.

Robinson used the BMW for more crimes when he and Atkins were freed following a court hearing in Eastbourne.

Sussex Police asked for more time to question them but the application was denied by a district judge.

More terror followed and Robinson went on to shoot Albert Robinson, 35, in both legs in Kilburn, north London, after demanding £500. Nine days later Robinson, with Atkins, tortured and shot a man in the chest in Brixton.

Robinson was arrested after a police chase in Deptford High Street. The pair were convicted last month of 34 offences, including attempted murder, false imprisonment, grievous harm, robbery, firearms offences and aggravated burglary.

The Old Bailey heard yesterday how Robinson, with 50 previous convictions, carried out his first robbery when he was 11.

He committed serious crimes almost every year until he was given four years for firearms offences in 1998.

Atkins, also with a long history of crime, carried out his first offence aged 13.