A dad-of-two says he was treated like “like a feral dog” after his ears were cut off during a vicious, Reservoir-Dogs-style gangland attack.
Karl Warrilow, 36, also said he thought he was going to die in the barbaric assault, the Liverpool Echo reports .
The attack also left him with other serious injuries including a perforated bowel and broken rib.
Mr Warrilow’s victim impact statement was read out after two men were found guilty of kidnapping and wounding him with intent, after a week-long trial at Liverpool Crown Court.
The jury took three hours to return the unanimous verdicts on Kisa Kasambara, 34, from Huyton , and Michael Huxley, 32, from Old Swan .
Sentencing was adjourned until Monday, but they were warned by Judge Neil Flewitt QC to expect lengthy prison sentences for “these terrible offences”.
The guilty verdicts were greeted with tears from Kasambara and Huxley’s supporters in the public gallery.
Kasambara showed no emotion and sat with his arms folded, but Huxley weeped openly in the dock.
The horrifying ordeal endured by Mr Warrilow took place on March 25 last year in an abandoned railway tunnel in West Derby , part of the old Liverpool loop line and known locally as the Ralla.
The latest verdicts bring the total number of people convicted in relation to the attack on Mr Warrilow to four.
Nicholas Thompson, 34, and Kenneth Dean, 34, were both convicted of the same offences in a separate trial at Liverpool Crown Court earlier this year, receiving jail sentences totalling 33 years .
The court heard that the vicious beating and mutilation suffered by Mr Warrilow was both commissioned and carried out by people he knew, and in some cases had been friends with for many years.
It was all over the sum of £2,000 in cash which Mr Warrilow had agreed to collect on behalf of Thompson, who was then in custody at HMP Liverpool for a previous offence.
He picked the money up from a man named “Jamie” at the Rocket pub in Broadgreen as arranged – but instead of passing it on, he spent it on himself and on items for the forthcoming birth of a baby he was expecting with his girlfriend. In his evidence, Mr Warrilow described absconding with the money as “the worst mistake of my life.”
Mr Warrilow eventually admitted what he’d done with Thompson’s money, for which Thompson was said to be “fuming”, and promised to pay him back. But around a week later – acting on the orders of Thompson – Huxley lured Mr Warrilow into a car on false pretences.
Instead of going to McDonalds as Mr Warrilow thought, they were subsequently joined in the Vauxhall Corsa by Kasambara and Dean.
Kasambara immediately put a dog chain around Mr Warrilow, pinning him to the front passenger seat and saying: “This is for Nicky.” Huxley drove the four of them to the old Liverpool loop line.
At one point, Mr Warrilow made a desperate bid to escape, but Kasambara and Dean caught up with him and he was bundled back into the car.
Once at the “Ralla”, Kasambara and Dean dragged Mr Warrilow down a hill into the darkened tunnel. Using a torch as a light, they put duct tape over his mouth and hands, and while Dean held him down, Kasambara sliced off both Mr Warrilow’s ears.
In another cruel twist, when they saw Mr Warrilow running his hands through the soil after the ordeal, Dean said: “He’s looking for his ears,” to which Kasambara replied: “No, they’re coming with us.”
They also threatened him and his family with death if he went to the police.
Two days later, Mr Warrilow picked up another call from Thompson from behind bars, taunting him by saying, “How’s life with no ears?”
In their defence, Kasambara said he was not present at the attack, while Huxley – who admitted being the driver – claimed it was carried out by two men in balaclavas who forced their way into the Corsa. Both accounts were dismissed by the jury.
Although Mr Warrilow initially gave police a false account of what happened out of fear of reprisals, he eventually named names after Thompson was released from prison last September and the threats he was receiving over the missing money escalated.
Both Kasambara and Huxley were remanded in custody to be sentenced on Monday.
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