Man jailed for setting burglar alight.

Mr Bennett suffered 90% burns in the attack

A man has been jailed for 12 years for setting fire to a Hampshire man in revenge for a burglary.

Aaron Fabian admitted trying to murder John Bennett outside his Southsea flat by dousing him in petrol and setting him alight on 29 September last year.

Mr Bennett was so badly burned in the attack that six of his fingers had to be partly amputated and incisions were cut into his chest to help him breathe.

Co-defendants Steven Toop, Ian Tate, Ian Mace and Kenneth De'Osmand, were also jailed.

The burglary led the small band of defendants...to take the law into their own hands

Prosecutor Anthony Davis QC

Toop, 31, of Fort Cumberland Road, Portsmouth, Tate, 26 and Mace, 27, both of Fawcett Road, Southsea and De'Osmand, 31, of Adams Road were jailed for a total of nine years and nine months for conspiracy to assault causing actual bodily harm.

Anthony Davis QC, prosecuting, told the court the gang planned to attack Mr Bennett, 26, because he had burgled the flat of Toop's girlfriend, Alison Hayward.

He had stolen mobile phones, a cassette player and papers including nude photos of the couple.

Mr Davis said: "It was a petty burglary but nevertheless it was an annoying occurrence, an intrusion into the privacy of those who were living there.

"It led the small band of defendants in the dock to take the law into their own hands, to teach Bennett a lesson, to give him a hiding."

Hammer attack

The gang smashed down the door of Mr Bennett's flat in Duncan Road, Southsea on 29 September and pulled him into the street.

Witnesses said they saw the men attack the victim with a hat stand and a hammer but the gang backed off when residents intervened.

However Fabian, 26, of no fixed address, returned with petrol, which he poured over Mr Bennett before setting him alight.

Mr Davies added: "By all accounts he should not have recovered.

"He will never work again, he will never be able to live an independent life again, and he will continue to suffer depression."