Man arrested over 'crucifixion'

A 30-year-old man has been arrested over an attack where the victim was doused in petrol, gagged and left nailed to a wooden cross.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said the man was being held in custody at a north London police station.

Police believe the victim, who has not been named, was abducted on Saturday night in Ealing Road, Northolt.

Police and firefighters were later called to free the 20-year-old from the makeshift cross on farmland in Hayes, north-west London, before he was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.

Victim's friend kidnapped

His injuries are not life-threatening.

Police refused to comment on suggestions the man was the victim of a vigilante attack because he was a persistent burglar.

The attackers also kidnapped his friend and the pair were driven away in separate vans - one a white Escort van, the other a transit.

The other man was dumped at The Oast House pub in Petts Hill, Northolt.

He had been tied up but not badly assaulted, the police said.