Yardies convicted in torture case

Lambie and Bourne tortured two men for money and drugs

Two notorious Yardie gang leaders are facing long jail terms after being found guilty of kidnap and blackmail in a vicious extortion attempt.

One of them was Mark Lambie, who was cleared of murdering PC Keith Blakelock during the Broadwater Farm riots in Tottenham, north London, in 1985.

He and co-accused Anthony Bourne were convicted at the Old Bailey of kidnapping two men from the Tottenham estate and torturing them with a hammer, an electric iron and boiling water poured on their genitals.

Lambie: "Malign and corrosive"

Two other gang members, Warren Leader and Francis Osei, both 21, were also convicted of kidnap and blackmail and will also be sentenced on Monday. Osei was also convicted of possessing heroin with intent to supply.

A fifth man, Clint Ponton, 19, was cleared of all charges and freed.

Scotland Yard's Detective Inspector Peter Lansdown, who led the investigation, said the conviction was a major success in the battle against so-called black-on-black crime.

"All the defendants are very dangerous men who have had a malign and corrosive effects in communities across London," he said.

Lambie was so notorious that he had become known as "obeah man" or "devil man", with people believing he was magically untouchable.

"Lambie's sentence today has destroyed the myth of his invincibility," said Mr Lansdown.

"I hope it will encourage others who have been victims to come forward and give evidence."

Ran barefoot

Lambie and Bourne both headed London crime gangs, called Tottenham Man Dem (TMD) and The Firm respectively.

The court heard they teamed up to target two men, Gregory Smith and Twaine Morris, believing they had access to money and drugs.

I hope it will encourage others who have been victims to come forward and give evidence

Detective Inspector Peter Lansdown

Mr Smith and Mr Morris were lured to the Broadwater Farm estate where they were kidnapped at gunpoint by up to 14 men, and taken to a flat nearby where they were tortured.

Mr Smith managed to escape after leading gang members to a barber's which they robbed. He ran barefoot through the streets to Tottenham police station.

Mr Morris was being moved to another address when he saw a passing police patrol car and threw himself onto the bonnet.

The men were put into police protection, but after 24 hours Mr Morris left.

As a warning he was shot in the street - but he survived and named Bourne as the man who had pulled the trigger.

'Wheeler dealer'

In court, Lambie's counsel Stephen Kamlish claimed he had been persecuted by police ever since the death of PC Blakelock, who was hacked to death by a mob in the riots there in 1985.

Lambie was cleared of murdering Pc Keith Blakelock

"He is a sometimes dishonest wheeler dealer who unfortunately for him was charged in 1985 with the murder of Keith Blakelock - a name that every Met police officer will never forget," said Mr Kamlish.

Lambie of Streatham, south London, was found guilty of two charges of kidnap and two of blackmail and cleared of two further blackmail charges.

Bourne, of Tottenham, was found guilty of two charges of kidnap and two of blackmail and cleared of attempted murder.