sadistic

Of course, no return to the Borderland would be complete without partaking in sadistic games, and that required inventing new ways to test the players.

“I’m not a sadistic guy that wants to make a spectator suffer. I have a lot of hope. I trust in human beings, even with their contradictions and weaknesses.”

He also remembers head teacher Ron Morris, who he described as "sadistic", pinning him up against a wall, throttling him until he was breathless.

The National Crime Agency's Alexander Murray said that there is a "fast-growing threat from sadistic and violent online gangs, made up predominantly of teenage boys" - something which had been identified in its recent threat assessment.

This paved the way for harsh, and sometimes sadistic, policies involving aggressive raids, warrantless detentions, family separations and imprisonment under conditions condemned by human rights groups.