A “brutal, sustained” revenge attack which left a man with horrific injuries was part of an 18-month conflict between traveller families.

Chadwell St Mary-based Paul Saunders, 30, was jailed for eight years on Friday (May 27) for his part in a “hideously violent” incident in Loughton High Road last November.

He had pleaded guilty to inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent.

Judge David Turner QC was told of a catalogue of violence between two warring families, which included the attack outside Nu Bar in Loughton.

He was one of three masked men who jumped out of a stolen car and set about Edward Dooley, 24, of Romford.

Mr Dooley's left hand was virtually severed and his left index finger was totally cut off.

He also suffered deep wounds to both legs, a fractured skull, and cuts to his head, back and neck in the 30 second frenzied attack at 11.30pm as he curled into a ball on the ground.

He has effectively lost the use of his left hand.

The judge said: “You had crow bars and machetes, heavily armed.

“He was a targeted individual.

“There was a frenzied attack - one eye witness said it was ‘as a pack of dogs’.

“Mr Dooley was left for dead with terrible injuries.

“This attack had a revenge or punishment dimension.”

Judge Turner said there had been hostilities between the two families for 18 months, with alarming exchanges documented in police reports.

He accepted Saunders had reached the end of his tether, but said he could not take the law into his own hands.

The court heard how the last incident before the Loughton attack involved a shotgun fired six or seven times at Saunders’ parents’ home, when his mother was inside with four sleeping children.

One of his brothers’ ears was severed in an attack and his brother and a cousin had been slashed across their stomachs.

The defendant’s wife has also been threatened with rape, and his father Tony was shot in the face.

He has undergone an 11-hour operation to rebuild his features, the court heard.

The judge said there was “no doubt at all” that the incidents led to the attack in Loughton.

Prosecutor Stephen Rose said: “On November 6 three masked men ran from an Audi directly to Edward Dooley.

“All three were carrying long bladed weapons.

“They immediately set about attacking him.

“He was defenceless.

“He fell to the floor and curled up in a ball to protect his head from blows.

“The attack lasted under 30 seconds but it was sustained and repeated.”

The Audi was waiting but drove off as police arrived.

The three men ran off and Paul Saunders was arrested in Station Road “out of breath and sweaty” in a T-shirt.

A hoodie was found the next morning with Mr Dooley's blood on it, said the prosecution.

Mitigating, Jeremy Dein QC told the judge that Saunders, a paver with no previous convictions, was “wracked with guilt” and angry at himself for becoming involved.

He was not the main attacker.

He had been grappling with the “insurmountable difficulties” about what had been happening, and lived in fear of perceived threats.

Police intelligence suggested the friction between the Dooleys and Saunders families concerned drugs, said Mr Dein.

But he denied it, adding: “There's no suggestion that Paul Saunders had any part in that."

He continued: “The weight of police intelligence is sufficient to conclude there was a horrendous build-up of violence, threats and intimidation prior to Saunders grossly misconceiving to involve himself in the incident concerning Edward Dooley.

“Saunders was overcome with anxiety, anger, fear, worried about his wife.

“He came to the view, following attacks on his father's home and mother, that he had to act for himself.”