Murder victim Martin Ackroyd was badly injured in a beating by his killer’s brother a year before his death, it has been revealed.

Mr Ackroyd suffered broken ribs and a collapsed lung during an assault by Donovan Dodsley and Lee Knowles, in May 2013.

A year later, Dodsley’s sister Nicola Bedford and her pimp Surjit Singh Sidhu tortured and murdered Mr Ackroyd in his home, at Ashenhurst Rise.

They are due in court for sentencing on Friday.

During her trial Bedford told jurors that Dodsley and Knowles had attacked Mr Ackroyd because they were unhappy with the way he was laying a carpet at Bedford’s Dewsbury flat.

Dodsley, formerly of Berkeley Crescent, Leeds, and Knowles, formerly of Trinity Street, Huddersfield, were both jailed for 21 months at Leeds Crown Court, in April, after admitting causing grievous bodily harm.

Mr Ackroyd, who was hospitalised for five days, was due to claim compensation for his injuries.

But prostitute and drug addict Bedford was unhappy that her then partner Mr Ackroyd had gone to the police.

After Dodsley and Knowles were jailed Bedford wrote in her diary: “That f*****g Martin. Well, I hope he’s happy because I’m not.”

But she added: “Oh well. At least one good thing has come out of it; I can get compensation.”

In her diary, sections of which were read out in court during her trial, Bedford also accused Mr Ackroyd of lying about having nightmares following the attack.

On trial last week, Bedford told jurors she was ‘just ranting’.

While the two men were in prison Mr Ackroyd, 50, was murdered by Bedford and Sidhu.

The father-of-three and taxi controller was beaten, tied to a bed, suffocated with a plastic bag and strangled with a DVD player cable.

Bedford, 30, of Blackers Court, Thornhill Lees, Dewsbury, and Sidhu, 49, of New Hey Road, Oakes, will be sentenced at Bradford Crown Court on Friday.

Both are expected to receive jail terms of over 15 years.

Surjit Singh Sidhu and Nicola Bedford murdered Martin Ackroyd
Surjit Singh Sidhu and Nicola Bedford murdered Martin Ackroyd