Yorkshire captors who kept Albanian men chained to radiators and made them eat from dog bowls in house of horrors are jailed

The two victims were also beaten and scalded with hot liquid during a two-week ordeal during which they were filmed so that Andi Alushi, who is also Albanian, and Valdemaras Kasinskas, from Lithuania, could use the videos to blackmail their relatives back home for money.

Both have now been jailed for 14 and a half years, with a five-year extended licence period, at Sheffield Crown Court.

The captives were discovered last May during an armed police raid on the house on Firth Park Road after a tip-off that the men were being held against their will.

Inside, officers found the victims chained to radiators in separate rooms upstairs. Next to them lay empty dog food bowls, which they had been forced to eat out of after being starved for days. One of the men had severe burn injuries to his hand after being assaulted and scalded. Upon seeing the armed officers, he could only mutter ‘thank you’.

Detective Chief Inspector Mark Oughton of South Yorkshire Police said: “What officers found inside that house was deeply disturbing, clear evidence two people had been kept prisoner and subjected to absolutely barbaric treatment. Torture is the only word to describe what Kasinskas and Alushi did to one of the victims, giving him violent beatings and burning him with scalding liquid, causing significant burn injuries.

“As we dug deeper into this horrific case, we learned the motive for Kasinskas and Alushi’s sadistic crimes was to elicit money from the victims’ families back in Albania. The pair blamed the victims for one of their cannabis warehouses being dismantled – a clear indication of their involvement in organised criminality and large-scale drugs supply – and as such, filmed the victims enduring humiliating and degrading treatment in the hope they could blackmail their families.”

At a hearing before Sheffield Crown Court last month, 27-year-old Alushi and 39-year-old Kasinskas pleaded guilty to two counts of false imprisonment.

Today at the same court they were both sentenced.

DCI Oughton continued: “When faced with the victims’ testimony, forensic evidence, telephone and digital evidence, this criminal duo saw no option but to enter guilty pleas the week before trial was due to start.

“This conviction would not have been successful without the bravery of the two victims, the dedicated efforts of investigating officers and staff, as well as the invaluable support of international law enforcement agencies.”