AN employee subjected to a sadistic assault by his former boss has been jailed for refusing to give evidence against him.

Craig Stirrat, 24, was imprisoned by Eastbourne locksmith Glen Inglis and tortured with scalding hot knives.

Inglis, 31, of Upperton Gardens, also beat him with a steel claw hammer over a £2,000 debt in what a judge described as "one of the most appalling pieces of sadism" he had ever heard.

The businessman, co-owner of Allied Locks in Eastbourne, was jailed for eight years after being convicted of false imprisonment, grievous bodily harm with intent and carrying an offensive weapon.

He was also convicted of unlawfully wounding another former employee by cutting his face with a kitchen knife.

But his trial, in June, was forced to go ahead without live evidence from Stirrat - he vanished from his address in Greys Road and went into hiding.

A special police squad was set up to hunt for him and he was finally arrested and taken before Judge Austin Issard-Davies for contempt of court.

Nicholas Hamblin, for Stirrat, told Hove Crown Court he had simply been too scared to give evidence in court and come faceto face with Inglis.

He said Stirrat had been mentally scarred by his ordeal and detectives who visited him before the trial said he was like "a rape victim who cannot bear to relive events".

He said that Stirrat had also had a discussion with Inglis's mother and an associate of Inglis in which he was told £15,000 could be "made available" if he did not attend court.

But he added: "He never took, accepted or made any actual plans to take any money. The sole motive for not turning up was fear.

"He is a very frightened and weak individual. He is one of the most frightened men you will ever come across."

Jailing him for 28 days, Judge Issard-Davies said he had wasted court and police time.

He said: "I accept that you were, and are, a frightened man. I act on the basis that no money has been paid out whatever offer may have been made and whatever attitude you may have taken to that.

"You deliberately absented yourself. You do not tell me that you were forced to. You say only that it was through your own weakness and fear.

"This was an extremely serious case and it must be met with a period of imprisonment."

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