This is the haunting account from his hospital bed of a much-loved brother and uncle shortly before he died, telling how brutal thugs set him on fire.
Detectives and the family of Robert Beattie today released a powerful audio clip of him speaking in pained tones to police about the horrific attack.
And he explained how he desperately rushed outside while in flames to "roll about in the rain" to "stop the burns."
At the time, the 48-year-old was fighting for his life after a gang-of-five from Liverpool had driven to his Skelmersdale home to try and reassert their dominance over the town's drugs trade.
Connah Jenkinson, 25, from Tuebrook, was part of a mob who squirted Mr Beattie with petrol, shortly after midnight on September 26, 2019, and shockingly set him alight.
The gang, which included John O'Brien from Walton and Joseph McEwan from Fazakerley, along with two others still on the run, then fled, leaving him fatally wounded.
Today a clip of Mr Beattie giving a statement to police was released, revealing his shaking and wavering voice as he battled his terrible injuries.
He told them: "There’s a knock on the door.
"I open the door.
"About five lads come in squirting err… petrol or whatever it was … over me and they lit a match.
"And started squirting stuff all over me flat.
"And then… they ran off and I went out and rolled in the rain to try and stop the burns.
Mr Beattie was heavily sedated in hospital, but after two weeks sadly died of his injuries.
Yesterday at Preston Crown Court, Jenkinson was jailed for life and ordered to serve a minimum of 30 years before the Parole Board can consider his release.
His accomplices - O'Brien and McEwan - were handed 15 and 12 years receptively for manslaughter and arson endangering life.
Police have also released the first photographs of the damage caused to Mr Beattie's home, showing the front room, completely wrecked by fire and his front door, very badly burnt and charred by the flames.
Two men remain on the run who were part of the murder gang, who officers believe come from Merseyside.
They were captured on CCTV casually walking and riding away from the scene, 30 minutes after the firebombing.
DCI Pauline Stables of Lancashire Police said: “Robert Beattie was a vulnerable man who was the victim of a brutal, horrendous and violent attack which caused extensive and widespread burns.
"His injuries were not survivable and resulted, tragically, in his death two weeks later.
"It is hard to think of a more horrific way to die and my thoughts today are foremost with his loved ones.
“The men convicted of this brutal murder travelled to Skelmersdale to carry out these offences with a complete disregard for human life and in an effort to intimidate and instil fear in our local vulnerable communities and establish a foothold dealing drugs.
“This terrible incident is testament to the fear, misery and devastation travelling drug dealing gangs or “County lines” can cause to the local community."
The killing was a result of feuding gangs trying to instil fear and command their dominance in the drugs supply trade in Skelmersdale.
Mr Beattie had become a victim in County line drug dealing, buying and dealing drugs on behalf of a group known as the "Nathan Line."
This angered the leaders of the rival Merseyside-based "Ronnie and Reggie" line and led to them going to Skelmersdale and first firebombing a home on Willow Hey, at 11pm.
The occupants at this address had also started buying and selling drugs for the "Nathan" line and so petrol was poured through the letter box and onto the front door, which was then set alight.
They luckily managed to escape before, 90 minutes later, the gang visited Mr Beattie's flat at 12.40am, knocked on his front door and squirted him and his flat with petrol.
He was then set on fire as the mob escaped.
Police enquiries later showed the mobile phone numbers ascribed to the Ronnie and Reggie line, used by Jenkinson, McEwan and others, were all in use in Liverpool before the attacks and during the journey in the van from Merseyside to Skelmersdale on the day of the attacks.
That phone was subsequently untraceable in the days following.
Judge Justice Turner explained their criminal business practices as he sent the three killers down to the cells, saying: "They would distribute heroin and crack cocaine to addicts using the [phone] line as a means to advertise their products and receive orders.
"Trade was usually brisk and profitable.
"I am entirely satisfied from the evidence I heard that none of you ever gave a second thought to the lives that you were both ruining and shortening by this evil business.
"I am equally sure that each of you, throughout the trial, significantly and persistently tried to minimise the extent of your true involvement in the gang and deliberately waited until the last moment before the hearing to formulate the details of your defences in order to fit them as comfortably as possible into the perceived gaps in the prosecution evidence.
"Unfortunately for you, the prosecution case was too tightly woven to provide you with sufficient room within which to fabricate a plausible narrative and, as a result, the jury saw through your elaborate lies."
Anyone, who has any information that they think might be useful to police is asked to please get in touch via the Major Incident Public Portal at https://mipp.police.uk/operation/0401020119SO4-PO1 quoting log number 0277 of the date (January 22nd).
