THE owner of a multi-million pound recycling firm who organised a fatal vigilante attack on a drug addict he believed had burgled his daughter has been jailed for 15 years.

Businessman Neil Elliott was told “the problem with street justice is that it is not justice at all” as he was sentenced at Teesside Crown Court along with two others who attacked Michael Phillips in his Hartlepool home last June.

Mr Justice Jacobs told the defendants if they accused the 39-year-old of a crime, he should have been entitled to be investigated by the police and treated as innocent until proven guilty, like they had been during their six week trial.

The Northern Echo: Victim: Michael PhillipsVictim: Michael Phillips

Elliott, the 44-year-old owner of the Niramax recycling firm, was convicted of manslaughter and jailed for 15 years.

He had posted on Facebook on the morning of the attack “Whoever burgled my daughter's house and took her car, your life is about to change, trust me."

His “staunch” associate Lee Darby, 32, was convicted of murder, after the jury heard his victim was punched, kicked and hit with a knuckleduster.

He was jailed for life with a minimum term of 23 years.

Heroin addict Anthony Small, 40, was convicted of manslaughter after the jury heard he helped Elliott's group get into Mr Phillips' home and was jailed for 12 years.

Elliott and Darby had driven around the streets of Hartlepool in the businessman's Mercedes pickup while Darby, pictured below, showed locals CCTV of the burglary, trying to find out who was responsible.

The Northern Echo:

Beaten with a knuckleduster and coches, Mr Phillips suffered horrific injuries during the attack.

In total 50 injuries were inflicted on the defenceless, innocent man, including 15 broken ribs, skull and facial fractures, and a punctured lung and spleen as a result of the brutal attack.

Mr Justice Jacobs said Elliott and Darby treated drug addicts with contempt and believed “smackheads” could have their homes entered without invitation, and that violence could follow.

The judge said: “What happened in this trial has been described as street justice.

“But the problem with street justice is that it is not justice at all and that as here, it may be administered to the wrong person in the wrong street.”

The judge said their victim had sadly struggled with drug addiction, but said he was a decent man “who had his life taken away within the space of a few minutes in a brutal and barbaric attack”.

  • Gary Jackson, 31, of The Darlings; John Musgrave, 54, and Sean Musgrave, 30, both of Wordsworth Avenue; and Craig Thorpe, 36, of Young Street; were cleared of all charges.