A twisted drugs gang filmed the moment they stripped a man naked, tied him to a chair, stabbed him and set him alight with an aerosol can flame thrower.

The victim was knifed multiple times in the throat, cheek and face as the thugs threatened to "pop his eye out".

He'd been lured to the property in Gravesend after warning his friend about a local drug dealer known as CJ who had been cuckooing his friend's home.

Now, four men have received sentences totalling more than 50 years after the man had boiling water poured over him, a dog set on him and was jumped on repeatedly until he passed out.

Charlie Saunter, 23, William O'Brien, 20, Kai Haruna, 20, and Sam Secord, 30, all appeared at Maidstone Crown Court.

They admitted a variety of charges including causing grievous bodily harm with intent, burglary, robbery, false imprisonment and drug dealing.

Prosecutor Tanya Robinson told the court how the Gravesend victim was "cut all over" with a knife after the weapon was repeatedly "run down his face like it was being sharpened".

She added: "The complainant then described how O’Brien told him to strip and used a deodorant can like a flame thrower on the complainant’s groin and genitals after being set alight.

"The complainant later described how he had to hit his genitals to put out the fire."

On July 7, 2020, police went to the victim's address and found him injured and needing medical treatment, before taking him to Medway Maritime Hospital in Gillingham.

Ms Robinson explained: "While that was being undertaken, police attended an address associated with Saunter in Norfolk Road, Gravesend, where they found the attackers.

"When the police officer went in, Saunter placed his hands in the air. However, a second or two later he reached down beside the sofa and pulled out a Rambo knife in a sheath.

"PC Murray shouted for him to drop the weapon while ‘red dotting’ him, i.e. aiming the taser at him.

"It was at this stage a bull mastiff-type dog in the address attacked PC Murray by biting him on the right knee.

"The owner of this animal, Mr O’Brien, then controlled the dog and removed it from the room."

After his arrest O’Brien told a police officer: “I was there but I didn’t do anything. They were going to throw him (the victim) out of the window but I said 'no, don’t'.

"I’m not like that I just needed somewhere to stay with my dog. My life is f****d”."

During the police raid, Saunter asked officers: "Have you got my bag with all my clothes and stuff in it?"

They opened a holdall and discovered heroin, £1,000 in cash and a notebook with drug information written on it.

The victim later told police how he was forced to stand in the shower while he had buckets of boiling, salted water poured over his head and thrown at him.

Ms Robinson described how the victim was assaulted so many times he struggled to remember what happened and who had done what.

She added: "What he could remember was how Haruna repeatedly jumped on his chest until he passed out.

"When he woke up the defendants told him they had been cutting his ears. He then noticed a piercing type hole to his ear that wasn’t there before he passed out and cuts to both ears."

The prosecutor told the court how Haruna told the victim he wanted to kill him and it was only the other two people with him who had "saved" him.

The victim was asked if he wanted to ring his mum or kids before O'Brien brought out his dog on a chain, setting him on the victim.

He was left with a facial fracture, burns to his abdomen and thighs and burns to his groin and foot.

Ms Robinson said when police looked at the defendants' mobile phones they discovered footage of another attack on a vulnerable man a week earlier where three of the men forced their way into the victim's home and robbed him of cash before losing a tooth after being hit with weapons.

Saunter, of East Sussex, received an extended prison sentence of 17-and-a-half years, while O'Brien, from Greenwich, was given an extended sentence of 15 years.

Londoner Haruna received an extended sentence of 12 years and three months while Secord, of no fixed address, was jailed for five years and three months.

Judge Charles MacDonald ruled Saunter, O'Brien and Haruna posed a danger to the public and their sentences included a four-year term which will be served once they were released from completing two-thirds of their initial sentences.

The judge also issued a deprivation order against O'Brien so he is unable to keep his dog.

"I am not a horrible person. I was just a very, very, stupid kid."

Lawyers for the four defendants said the incidents happened more than two years ago when Haruna and O'Brien were teenagers and accepted their behaviour had been "horrible".

O'Brien wrote to the judge: "I can't ever and won't ever excuse my terrible actions. Words cannot describe how sorry I am for the victims.

"Coming to prison has made me realise this is not the career path I want. If I could go back and change what happened I definitely would.

"I am not a horrible person. I was just a very, very, stupid kid."