Burglars who tied up a couple and poured boiling water over their heads have each been handed three life sentences.
Kacey Adams (34) and Daniel Wallace (33) smashed their way into the Kent, England bungalow of 66-year-old John Buswell as he watched TV and his wife, Janis (64), knitted clothes for her expected great-grandchild.
The intruders used cable ties to tie up the couple and subjected them to almost two hours of torture to demand the codes to their safes, said prosecutor Tracy Ayling QC.
Judge Charles Gratwicke, sentencing at Chelmsford Crown Court on Monday, described both men as “highly dangerous, ruthless professional criminals prepared to use serious violence” to further their aims.
Both men admitted aggravated burglary and causing grievous bodily harm with intent at an earlier hearing at Maidstone Crown Court.
They were also sentenced for a tit-for-tat drive-by shooting after they were found guilty of conspiracy to murder following an earlier trial at Chelmsford Crown Court.
Adams, formerly of Covert Road, Hainault, Ilford, London, and Wallace, of no fixed address, were both sentenced to life in prison, and must serve 12½ years before being considered for release.
Each defendant was given three life sentences, with a minimum jail term of 12½ years for conspiracy to murder, and seven-and-a-half years for both aggravated burglary and causing grievous bodily harm with intent.
All sentences will be served concurrently.
Gratuitous violence
The court heard the two defendants had poured two kettles of boiling water over Mrs Buswell and threatened to sever her fingers and gouge one of her eyes out, and poured one kettle of boiling water over Mr Buswell, punched him repeatedly in the face and threatened to cut his ears off.
They also threatened the couple with a knife and a hot iron.
Judge Gratwicke said Adams and Wallace had used “gratuitous violence for no reason at all”.
Adams and Wallace, together with a third man who has never been caught, made off with about £50,000 on April 26th, 2016.
The two defendants jetted to Dubai on a spending spree after the raid in Halstead near Sevenoaks, Kent, Chelmsford Crown Court heard.
“You left having ruined the lives of those two pensioners,” said Judge Gratwicke.
They were arrested on a return flight in May 2016, and their luggage was found to contain more than £18,000 of luxury goods.
In a victim impact statement, Mrs Buswell said: “What these criminals did to me was barbaric.”
Fourth man
A fourth man, 27-year-old Drew Morris, of Downhall Road, Rayleigh, Essex, admitted to being the getaway driver, but said he did not enter the house or know what was going to happen.
He admitted simple burglary at an earlier hearing at Maidstone Crown Court and was sentenced to four years and three months in prison at Chelmsford Crown Court.
Adams and Wallace were also sentenced for a drive-by shooting in Stanford-Le-Hope, Essex, in May 2016 which their victim survived. They were convicted of conspiracy to murder along with a third defendant, 25-year-old Edward Dooley, of St Edwards Way, Romford.
Judge Gratwicke said Dooley was “not involved in the actual shooting” but was an organiser.
He jailed Dooley for 16 years, of which he must serve half before he is considered for release on licence.
– (PA)