THREE men who stabbed a young Ramsbottom father to death with a samurai sword have been jailed for life.

Sentencing the men yesterday, Judge Clement Goldstone QC said John Watt and Stephen Goodwin, both 22, and Nathaniel Clarke-Collins, 19, had been involved in an "appalling, outrageous and planned revenge attack".

The victim, 20-year-old Richard Meakin, was found in the back garden of a house in Ramsbottom following the attack last summer.

Watt, of Square Street, Ramsbottom, Clarke-Collins, from Bury, and Goodwin, from Radcliffe, were convicted of murder after a 23-day trial at Manchester Crown Court.

Judge Goldstone said: "You all used a lethal weapon. It was not a chance encounter - that is why the sword was taken.

"The victim was kicked and received no less than eight stab wounds. You totally ignored his pleas to stop, leaving him bleeding to death.

"You appeared not to have a care in the world, changed your clothes and then callously went to the pub for a drink."

A fourth man, Martin Nicholl, 33, from Bury, was cleared of murder but found guilty of assault and was jailed for three years.

Father-of-one Meakin was attacked by the men after leaving a house in Rostron Road on August 22 last year.

He was stabbed eight times with a samurai sword which Clarke-Collins admitted giving to Watt two days earlier.

The weapon was later recovered from a nearby gutter.

Despite efforts to save him, including emergency surgery, Mr Meakin died later that night from blood loss.

During the trial the jury was told that the motive was a feud between Watt and Mr Meakin. The court heard that there had been two earlier violent incidents before the fatal confrontation.