Nicola Tallent

He wasn't seemed to be able to make eye contact.

He didn't seem to be completely and utterly engaged, although his brother every now and then would kind of hit him a nudge to, I suppose, urge him to laugh at what he was doing and to wake him up a bit.

So the court goes on to describe how the suspects were detained for questioning.

They made no admissions.

The object being the branding iron was found in searches by members of drug teams in abandoned waste ground nearby.

And what they will have is the branding iron, they'll have... Well, the Director of Public Prosecutions has also at this point directed that these charges are brought because it's the Director of Public Prosecutions really who ultimately agrees to drop them and accept far lesser charges.

Yeah.

Interestingly, so during sentencing today, the judges do refer to the fact that Barry Moore doesn't wish to be involved or provide a victim impact statement for them to

However, they said they had the benefit of those medical documents that we have described.

They had the benefit of seeing the photos and the injuries he sustained.

They said the photographs were of a very disturbing nature and it was useful for them to be able to see the man's face and torso and how it had been branded.

Before they do that, they kind of bring in, I suppose, the...

the case together and the aggravating factors, which are the violent and vicious nature of the attack, the ongoing nature of it in that it lasted over a period of time, that there was a single victim attacked by five men, that the assaults included the use of a number of different items, including a branding iron, that electric scooter or bike, whatever it was, a solid metal bar, a Stanley knife, an axe, and the fact that he was waterboarded.

The threats of the most vicious kind, the judges said, were made throughout, including to his family.

They specifically referenced Brandon's remarks about pulling down his tracksuit and raping him as being an aggravating factor.

And the fact that they all...

pretty much told him they know where his kids lived.

Dean in particular said to him at one point, I will go get the kids and bring them here and let them watch while presumably Moore is being attacked violently and being burnt.

And Jason's

remark to him at one point during this is an aggravating factor for all of them, that he was going to burn down your father's house and kill your kids.