Jail for kidnap victim's captors

Avtar Singh was seen carrying away the ransom money on CCTV

Five Kent men have been found guilty of offences relating to the kidnap of an illegal immigrant in Gravesend.

Avtar Singh, Sukhjinder Pooney, Asim Rana, Gurwinder Jutty and Anthony Rutledge made the man beg for his life in ransom calls to his family in 2004.

Singh and Pooney were found guilty of blackmailing the man's brother for £30,000, Maidstone Crown Court heard. The kidnap ordeal lasted three days.

All five were sentenced to jail terms ranging from four to eight years.

KIDNAPPERS' JAIL TERMS Eight years for Singh, 28, a shopkeeper from Marina Drive, Northfleet Seven-and-a-half years for warehouse worker Pooney, 21, of Cutmore Street, Gravesend Five years for Rana, 24, a warehouse worker from Rochester Road, Gravesend Five years for unemployed Jutty, 21, from Mitchell Avenue, Northfleet Four years for unemployed Rutledge, 21, from Pelham Road South, Gravesend

The court was told that the victim, Baljinder Singh, had gone into a shop in Rochester Road on 26 October and had been asked to help move something upstairs.

Prosecutor Michael Warren said Mr Singh was kidnapped, threatened, made to strip, videoed and subjected to "sexual indignities" that led him to fear that he would become an outcast in the Sikh community.

Mr Singh was held captive at two further addresses and forced to make telephone calls to a friend and his brother asking for ransom money.

His ordeal ended at a petrol station where he was exchanged for £30,000 paid by his brother, before police moved in to recover the ransom and make five arrests.

'A profound effect'

After the nine-week trial, Kent Police said the case was one of the biggest and most complex cases of kidnapping that had been investigated by the force.

Det Ch Insp Martin Harris said: "Abduction cases are very rare and in all my experience this was one of the most complex I have dealt with."

Cathryn Bowker, assistant chief crown prosecutor, said the case had "a profound effect on the local community".

She said: "I hope they now feel confident that when a crime affects them, we will do all that is within our power to bring those guilty to account for their crime."