A MOTEL manager was left half blind and scarred for life after a businessman he had spurned ordered a revenge attack, a jury was told.

Michael Brown, who was manager of the Yorkway Motel in Pocklington, was attacked after he pulled out of a deal to buy the venue from Alan Lumley, Hull Crown Court heard yesterday. The jury was told Lumley ordered Sean Craib, 21, to go and hurt Mr Brown, by using a pole or bat to break one of his arms or legs.

Lumley, 55, of the Laceby Arms in Laceby, near Grimsby has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm (GBH) with intent and Craib, of no fixed address, has pleaded guilty to the same charge.

A third suspect, 20-year-old Robert Elliott, of South Killingholme in Lincolnshire, has pleaded guilty to GBH, but denies conspiracy to commit GBH with intent. At the start of his trial for that charge yesterday, the jury heard from Craib, who acted as a witness for the prosecution.

He said Lumley and Mr Brown had been friends, but had fallen out after a business deal went wrong.

Craib said Lumley was selling the Yorkway Motel to Mr Brown, but Mr Brown had backed out at the last minute, leaving him out of pocket to the tune of between £50,000 and £60,000.

Craib said Lumley had asked him to go and harm Mr Brown.

He told the court: “He said he didn’t want me to mess about. I was to do it properly and I was to use a bat or a pole to break his arm or leg.”

Craib said he had refused several times, but agreed under duress from Lumley.

He said he asked his friend Elliott to act as the getaway driver and the pair went to the Yorkway on July 8.

The court heard Elliott agreed to pretend to have driven into Mr Brown’s Mini which was parked outside the motel, then go inside to lure Mr Brown out to look at the car, at which point Craib hit him in the face with a baseball bat.

Elliott denies any knowledge that Craib had the baseball bat. The incident left Mr Brown permanently scarred and blind in one eye.

Craib told the court he had shown Elliott the bat before the incident, when they met at the seafront in Grimsby, but Elliott denies that.

Craib said Lumley paid him £600 for the attack on Mr Brown, of which Elliott as driver would get between £100 and £130 plus his petrol for driving from his home in Killingholme, Lincolnshire to Pocklington.

Defence barrister Edward Bindloss said Elliott had no idea about the baseball bat and was “appalled” at the severity of the attack.

Craib and Lumley are due to be sentenced on February 28.

Elliott’s trial continues.