Two men have each been given five-year jail sentences after being convicted of carrying out a savage attack on a village shopkeeper.

Registered doorman Robert Wilson, 35, of Albion Street, Cross Roads, and Anthony Duncan, 28, of Carperley Crescent, Denholme, had both denied being involved in the attack on fruit and veg shop owner Michael Snowden.

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

Sentencing the two men, 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 is 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.

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

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

After the jury returned its unanimous verdicts, prosecutor David McGonigal revealed that Mr Snowden, who runs a shop in Main Street, Haworth, had suffered further medical problems following the late-night attack on him in his flat in November 2000.

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.

Duncan's barrister Nicholas Askins said his client 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. Traces of Mr Snowden's blood were found on footwear belonging to Duncan and Wilson.

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.

Speaking in his shop yesterday, Mr Snowden said he had not known which way the verdict would go. "I'm delighted that justice has been done," he said.

His injuries included a collapsed lung and deep vein thrombosis, and he had to have his ear sewn back on. He did not return to work for five months.

Mr Snowden says he was glad that forensic tests found his blood on his attackers' footwear.

"The blood was where they trod on my face.