A church in Rochester is praying for the safety of one of its flock in Zimbabwe.

White farmer Ben Freeth, 38, has been beaten and seriously injured at the hands of Robert Mugabe, while his wife fled to safety with their children.

The congregation at St Justus in Rochester are praying for the safety of the deeply Christian family.

Our pictures show his horrific injuries, and those suffered by his wife's parents.

Mike, 75 and Angela Campbell, 71, were also kidnapped from their home and beaten.

Ben and wife Laura and children Joshua, eight, Stephen, five and Anna, two, are fighting eviction from their farm, 70 miles south west of the capital Harare.

Ben and Mike are confronting the terror campaign head-on, by taking President Robert Mugabe to an international court.

They have bravely resisted bullying, violent and intimidating tactics to force them off the estate.

Ben had already gone to the aid of Mike and Angela and was caught up in the vicious attack.

The three were thrown into the back of a car and driven away, tracked by Laura's brother Bruce, before being dumped in a side street in Kadoma.

They had no shoes and had been drenched in ice cold water.

Ben raised the alarm and emeregncy medical aid was sought for Mike at Chegutu Hospital. He was later transferred to a hospital in Harare.

Ben and Mike's court appeal against farm seizures opened in April at a tribunal of the Southern African Development Community in Namibia. It has been repeatedly delayed by the government's failure to present its papers.