A ‘sadistic’ bully who assaulted and terrorised two young boys in Accrington by hanging them from doors and locking them in cupboards has been jailed for five years.

David Lamb, 47, was ‘persistently cruel’ to his victims during 1990s and caused them ‘physical, emotional and psychological’ damage, Preston Crown Court heard.

The court heard how the father-to-be frequently hanged the two boys from doors with their clothes and one one occasion locked them in a dark cupboard before playing music from War of the Worlds very loudly to ‘scare them’.

He also used lizards to bite their fingers, put a gas mask on one of the victims so he was in a panic and couldn’t breathe, and also tied him to a dog lead before making the dog run and drag him along the floor.

Julian Taylor, prosecuting, told the court how Lamb hit one of the boys over the head with an aerosol can and ‘picked him up by the neck and hurled him through a set of doors’ into another room.

The court heard how Lamb ‘stamped on the fingers’ of the other young Accrington boy and one time ‘sellotaped him to a toy car’ before pushing it against a wall.

Mr Taylor told the court how Lamb also inflicted child cruelty against another young boy in the Blackburn area from the late 1980s.

The court heard how on one occasion Lamb ‘scratched against a ceiling pretending to be Freddy Kreuger’ and slapped and hit him ‘on numerous occasions’.

Mr Taylor said Lamb also put a pillow case over the boys head, called him a ‘****’ and a ‘black *******’ and once ‘kicked him to the face’.

He also put the young boy in the boot of his car before driving him around for long periods to ‘scare him’.

A victim impact statement read out at court from one of the Accrington victims said he it left him feeling ‘very lonely, worthless and depressed’.

The other victim said he is now ‘fearful of men’ and is scared of small places.

The Blackburn victim said Lamb’s actions had a ‘major impact’ and has ‘ruined my life’.

Lamb was found guilty after a trial to three counts of child cruelty and was jailed for five years.

Mr Taylor told the court how he failed to attend his trial in March this year and was found guilty in his absence by a jury.

He told the court that Lamb couldn’t be traced ‘despite strenuous efforts’ and was found after the trial ‘hiding under a bed’ at a house in Westhoughton, Bolton.

Jonathan Duffy, defending, said Lamb ‘denied and continues to deny the conduct against him’ and said it is ‘either exaggeration or fabrication’.

Mr Duffy said Lamb was ‘nasty and uncaring’ but did nothing to ‘give rise to criminal liability’.

He told the court that this was ‘bullying behaviour over a period of time’ but none of the violence or assaults resulted in ‘actual bodily harm’ injuries.

He said: “He accepts he knew or should have known to come and attend the trial. He thought it was due to be in May.”

Judge Stuart Baker said Lamb was a ‘domineering and manipulative man’ and was ‘persistently cruel’.

Sentencing, he said: “You physically assaulted each child on many occasions over a number of years.

“There were quite remarkable allegations made by both of the (Accrington) boys that they were hung up by their clothing and at times they struggled to breathe and couldn’t get down.”

Judge Baker said Lamb found the ill-treatment of the boys ‘quite amusing’ and ‘took pleasure in terrifying’ all three victims.

He said the ‘physical, emotional and psychological cruelty’ has affected them and left them with ‘vivid memories’.

He also condemned Lamb, of Dundee Drive, Mansfield, for being ‘wilfully absent’ from the trial and ‘prolonging the agony and distress of the witnesses’.

He said: “I’m entirely sure you knew very well this trial was due to commence and this was an attempt to manipulate court proceedings to cause delay and disruption.”

Speaking after the case one of the victim said Lamb’s jail sentence was ‘not long enough’.

The mother of one of the other victims added: “He is a monster and should be kept away from children.

“To make them go through it all again, he is a monster and should be locked away for good.”