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‘Pay up...or we’ll rape your wife and burn your house’ | Daily Star Our man Scott talks to one of two loan sharks in our probe / PETER POWELL

I racked up £50,000 debts. I was up to my neck in it and I couldn’t see a way out.

Businessman Mark Hughes

The brutal mob beating was dished out for failing to pay a £15,000 debt that had doubled in ­interest in just 60 days.

And when he couldn’t stump up the £100-a-week penalty, he lost his ­business and flat in a crippling £100,000 swoop.

The Daily Star Sunday today lays bare the predatory world of the loan shark – brazen back-street bankers who have left thousands of debt-ridden Brits bruised, battered and broke.

More than 200,000 Brits have ­borrowed cash from payday loan sharks.

Mark, 44, from Liverpool, who asked not to be pictured for fear of reprisals, told how his life was ripped apart when spiralling debt landed him in the hands of a shark.

Mark, who was struggling to keep his two newsagents afloat, said: “I racked up £50,000 debts. I was up to my neck in it and I couldn’t see a way out.

“Pressure started to mount. The easy thing to do would have been to declare myself bankrupt and walk away. But I didn’t want to lose the business – or my pride.

“I was introduced to an illegal money lender who told me he’d give me 15 grand if I paid back 30 within 60 days.

“He said if I didn’t there’d be a ­penalty of £100 a week until I came up with the principal amount.

“Towards the end of the 60 days I couldn’t raise a penny. I couldn’t even afford the penalty.

“Shortly after the deadline I was sent a letter. It was a bit of a rocket up the arse and I was called to a meeting with the lender.”

Only it wasn’t a meeting as we know it. Mark was met by the shark and four heavies. He added: “Before I even said a word I was just jumped on. Bang, bang, bang. Three, four, five punches and I was down. They were raining in from all over.

“I just blacked out. Woke up a few seconds later with a broken jaw, blood all over my face and coming out my mouth. Teeth knocked out.

“All I could hear was, ‘You’ll f**king pay up’. I staggered out in a daze. No one knew about what I’d done. But I got home and I couldn’t cover this one up.

“I faced my wife and had the ­humiliation of telling her everything. She took me to hospital where I spent two days.”

Chilling threats followed.

“They threatened to rape my wife, burn my house down, attack my mum. It was horrendous.”

Weeks later and still struggling to stump up any of the cash, some of Mark’s assets were seized – a flat and two newsagents worth around £100,000.The menace continued until underworld fixer and former gangland­ ­“taxman” Steven French intervened.

Self-styled “problem solver ­extraordinaire” Steven told the Daily Star Sunday: “Mark got a loan out for £15,000. He ended up paying back ­nearly £100,000. These people wouldn’t give in and wanted more.

“Through the debt recovery and ­security grapevine he heard that I help people facing dire circumstances as long as right was on their side. He got hold of me and told me who these ­individuals were. These guys will break your toes with pliers, break your fingers with pliers if you fall back on a debt payment.”

He went on: “The only people who can stop it is people like myself who have a reputation for standing up to these people and giving out the same violence they give out, if that’s the way they want it.

“I confronted them and told them it was time to let it go…that if they ­wanted to continue their business they’d leave him alone. And that’s what happened.”