A shopkeeper so savagely beaten his ear had to be stitched back on spoke today after his two attackers were both jailed for five years.

Michael Snowden, who runs a fruit and vegetable shop in Main Street, Haworth, said: "I'm delighted that justice has been done."

Doorman Robert Wilson, 35, of Albion Street, Cross Roads, Keighley, and his friend Anthony Duncan, 28, of Carperley Crescent, Denholme, had both denied being involved in the attack on Mr Snowden.

But a jury at Bradford Crown Court yesterday found them both guilty of causing him grievous bodily harm with intent.

Mr Snowden was back behind the counter yesterday where the attack happened in November 2000 in his flat on the premises.

He was so badly beaten he was off work for five months, suffered a collapsed lung, needed surgery to stitch back his ear and still has no sense of smell. Recorder Paul Watson said: "It scarcely needs me to spell it out that this was a truly dreadful crime.

"The attack on Mr Snowden that this jury has heard about was committed with a savagery which almost defies belief.

"The public are rightly outraged that a perfectly decent citizen should be set upon in his own home where, of all places, he has a perfect right to feel safe and secure."

He added: "I detect not a trace of remorse. You contested this case to the wire."

Recorder Watson said the public demanded severe punishment for this sort of outrage and those expectations would be met by the court.

After the jury returned their unanimous guilty verdicts, prosecutor David McGonigal revealed that Mr Snowden had suffered further medical problems following the late-night attack on him in his flat.

He said Mr Snowden later suffered from deep vein thrombosis in a leg and had also lost his sense of smell.

Wilson's barrister, Simon Myers, said whatever happened that night, his client, who had no previous convictions, had acted out of character. He said Wilson had an eight-year-old daughter, and lived with his girlfriend and her 12-year-old son.

Duncan's barrister, Nicholas Askins, said he was a family man with a daughter aged three and he had never been to prison before.

The jury heard evidence from Mr Snowden that he had been asleep in bed when he heard footsteps.

He described how he was attacked by two men, who were demanding to know where the safe and keys were.

After being punched and kicked, he was left with a footprint mark on his face and two black eyes.

Tests revealed traces of Mr Snowden's blood on footwear belonging to Duncan and Wilson, but when they were interviewed, they both denied being involved in the attack.

Giving evidence during their trial, both men claimed that they had been drinking in Haworth that night, but had then gone back to Wilson's home after buying a takeaway.