A TEENAGER who was tortured with red-hot hair straighteners has told how he thought he was going to die at the hands of two brutal thugs.

Antony Dabbs said his life was ruined when Christo- pher Lilley and Richard Johnson pulled off his trousers and burned him with the straightening tongs.

The 18-year-old and his family, who used to live in Horwich, were forced to flee Bolton after the attack because of fear of repercus- sions.

Mr Dabbs is suffering from post-traumatic stress disor- der, his family have lost their house, his relationship with his girlfriend has been put under massive strain and he has been ridiculed by people in the community.

Now, he says he will have to live the rest of his life in fear and has cut off contact with all his friends because he does not want anyone to know where he lives.

Mr Dabbs, who was study- ing to be a mechanic, says he was introduced to the drug mephedrone last Christmas after he bumped into Lilley, a childhood friend, at a house party.

He claimed Lilley said he owed him £300. His parents discovered he had been tak- ing the drug, which was made illegal last year. He confessed what had hap- pened and told them he was scared because Lilley was threatening to attack his family if he did not pay up.

Mr Dabbs handed over the £300 after being given £200 from his parents, but says days later Lilley demanded more payment.

On March 19, Lilley ordered a taxi to pick up Mr Dabbs and bring him to the house in Dickinson Street West where he and Johnson tortured him by burning his genitals with the hair straighteners for about five to 10 seconds.

Doctors told Mr Dabbs the burn was so severe it would have damaged his nerves and prevented him from feel- ing pain.

The attack only ended when three girls, who had been downstairs, interrupt- ed.

Mr Dabbs said: “I thought they would have killed me if those girls hadn’t come in the room. I knew if I tried running, what they did to me would have been 100 times worse.”

Lilley and Johnson forced Mr Dabbs to stand in the front room again for about 45 minutes while they drank and laughed at him before they let him go.

Mr Dabbs yesterday criticised the legal sys- tem which meant that Johnson and Lilley, both aged 24, were jailed for two years.

He said: “They’ve ruined the rest of my life and they get two years.”