TWO young thugs were jailed for life today for murdering a dad-of-two, who was burnt to death after a savage assault.

Best pals Bryan Boyle, 18, and Greig Maddock, 21, set fire to 35-year-old Brian Bowie, who clung to life for five days before dying of horrific injuries.

Maddock was ordered to serve at least 12 years before being eligible for parole.

Boyle, who was also convicted of kicking and stamping on Mr Bowie, was locked up for a minimum 15 years.

Temporary judge Roger Craik QC said their crime - carried out while they were both on probation - was "appalling".

Outside court, members of Mr Bowie's family slammed the sentences as too lenient.

His brother James, 40, said: "What they did to my brother was appalling. When I went to visit him in hospital I didn't recognise him.

"He was attacked and newspapers were put in his pockets and set alight.

"These two are monsters and they should never be let out of jail.

"This is not justice.

"Those two who killed him will still be fairly young when they get out and I'm raging about that."

The High Court in Edinburgh was told Mr Bowie, who was married with daughters aged 13 and 17, was murdered on the night he was due to attend brother James' 40th birthday party.

Mr Bowie, of Iona Road, Dunfermline, was hit on the head with a bottle, kicked and stamped on by Boyle, who had been sniffing gas.

The victim was then dragged out of a flat in the Fife town. He was knifed in the thigh, leaving a deep wound that damaged a major vein.

Mr Bowie was beaten-up, suffering a fractured skull and brain injury, doused with lighter fuel and set on fire.

Some youngsters found him lying in a pool of blood on a smouldering pile of pornographic magazines and clothing outside flats in Inchkeith Drive.

He died five days later in St John's Hospital, Livingston, where doctors amputated one of his arms in a vain bid to save him.

After leaving Mr Bowie burning, the killers went by train to Glenrothes, where police arrested them the following day.

Boyle, of Inchkeith Drive, Dunfermline, and Maddock, from Glenrothes, had denied murdering Mr Bowie on October 14 last year.

They both had previous convictions for assault.