A pensioner was subjected to “a savage beating” in his own home after three masked robbers burst in, Worcester Crown Court was told.

Douglas Moule suffered repeated blows from a crowbar as he lay in a pool of blood, his arms and legs trussed by electric flex and curtain ties.

The gang believed he had £40,000 stashed away at Dodds Cottage in the village of Hadley.

They ransacked the home where Mr Moule had lived for 40 years but found no cash.

Mr Moule refused to give them the keys to his gun cabinet or the correct pin number to his credit card.

The 70-minute ordeal ended with the gang stealing a shotgun, camcorders, cameras, a commemorative coin and two sentimental watches, said Stephen Thomas, prosecuting.

Mr Moule lost part of the vision in his right eye and suffered a permanent scar on his forehead.

He needed an eye operation and had a suspected hairline fracture of the right arm.

Andrew Siddall, aged 38, of Fetherston Court, Tachbrook Road, Leamington Spa, was given a sentence of imprisonment for public protection totalling 10 years and eight months.

Mark Carson, 36, of Baker Drive, Wellesbourne, Warwick, and 38-year-old Mervin Mason, of Elliot Drive, Wellesbourne, were both given nine years and four months.

Michael Wells, 38, also of Elliot Drive, Wellesbourne, was jailed for eight years.

Siddall had previously served sentences totalling 20 years for four armed robberies of building societies and shops.

Wells was the gang’s driver and took no part in the violence. All the defendants admitted robbery.

Judge Alistair McCreath said the victim was “given a savage beating in a dreadful ordeal which had permanent effects”.

The crime had forced him to sell the home where generations of his family had lived for 150 years.

The judge told the gang: “All this misery inflicted on a vulnerable man in order to enrich yourselves at his expense.”

He said Siddall must serve at least five years and four months.

He would only be released when the parole board considered him safe.

At least one defendant went on a reconnaisance mission to Mr Moule’s detached property set in six acres of land in November 2007, said Mr Thomas. Wells drove the gang there on December 2 where they donned balaclavas.

They carried a crowbar and a pickaxe handle.

Mr Moule, a widower, had returned from a lunch with friends, and had fed his collection of chickens, goats and ducks.

He had just switched on his TV in the early evening when he was confronted by the men.

“His first reaction was to have a go at them,” said Mr Thomas. But he was knocked over and blows rained down on him.

In a bid to absorb the blood, he buried his head in the carpet.

But such was the force of the violence, blood spattered the walls. Mr Moule, then aged 68, refused to hand over gun cabinet keys because he was afraid that if they got a gun he might be shot.

When the gang finally left, he managed to free himself and alert a neighbour. Police traced the gang during an investigation into stolen vehicles, said Mr Thomas.

Carson had two unique shotgun cartridges in his possession, which belonged to Mr Moule’s Russian-made gun.