A young father-to-be was dragged from his bed and hacked to death with an axe in a brutal revenge killing, a court has heard today.

Danny Gough, 24, was blinded with ammonia by three men, who allegedly posed as police to break into his Woodside house while he slept to murder him in front of his pregnant girlfriend.

Steven Dougherty, 36, Sam Monteith, 33, and Paul West, 30, are accused of meticulously plotting the killing then carrying it out on December 14, 2010, when prosecutors allege a feud of escalating violence reached a bloody crescendo.

This morning the Old Bailey heard claims the three friends had kept Mr Gough, of Stockbury Road, under surveillance in the weeks before his death as they planned reprisals for an attack on Mr Monteith a month earlier.

Mr Gough was one of three men who broke into Mr Monteith's home, then in Friars Court, Wallington, on November 4 that year, sprayed ammonia in his eyes and cut him with a knife, leaving him with a 10cm gash across his face.

The break-in followed a fight in a Wimbledon pub in which Leanne Meredith, a friend of Mr Gough with a history of bad blood with Mr Dougherty, claimed Mr Monteith punched her, the court heard.

The day of the attack at Mr Monteith's home, Mr Gough and Mr Dougherty are said to have exchanged "blood-curdling" threats of violence in text messages.

In one, Mr Dougherty warned Mr Gough - who was using a Blackberry stolen from Mr Monteith - that he had been "paid for", later adding he would "spend 20g putting you all over the place", the jury was told.

Mark Heywood, prosecuting, said Mr Dougherty and Mr Monteith then began plotting Mr Gough's murder, recruiting Mr West as an accomplice.

The court heard the three burst into Mr Gough's house in the early hours of the morning, shouting "police", then sprayed ammonia in his face, threw him to the floor and hacked him to death with a machete, an axe and a sword.

They are said to have stopped only when one of the three said: "He's dead."

Mr Monteith, of Brighton Road, Sutton, Mr Dougherty, from Essex, and Mr West, from Slough, each deny murder.

The trial continues.