Dealer in '15-hour kidnap ordeal', Wolverhampton court hears

Randhir 'Ricky' Jutla was grabbed in Sweetman Street, Whitmore Reans, by a gang who appeared to be armed with a gun and knife near midnight on May 22, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.

The 33-year-old was bound hand and foot, gagged and beaten up, revealed Mr Jonathan Dunne, prosecuting. It ended when armed police found him trussed up in a 4x4 after surrounding the vehicle in a Staffordshire lane, the court heard.

They traced the car by tracking the locations of calls made from it on a mobile phone, the jury heard. The vehicle was allegedly being driven by 26-year-old Andre White, who later claimed he thought the kidnap had been a 'joke,' said Mr Dunne.

Another man in the 4x4 had since admitted involvement in the plot, continued the prosecutor who alleged that it had been masterminded by Scott Benjamin, aged 26, who was 100 miles away in Watford. Mr Dunne said: "Mr Jutla was kidnapped, he believed, at gunpoint.

"He was kept captive in the rear of the car, driven to a wooded area, taken out of the car, put in a ditch and had liquid, he was told was petrol, poured over him. He thought he was going to die and volunteered a sum of money for his release. He pleaded for his life, offering £40,000.

"When he contacted his mother to arrange this he mentioned a sort of 'code' and she called the police. The kidnap happened just before midnight and it took until 3.20pm of the following afternoon for the police to find the vehicle he was in.

Mr Dunne continued: "Scott Benjamin was the organiser. He controlled the events of the plot from 100 miles away in Watford. White was one of the kidnappers and was driving the car when police managed to free Mr Jutla."

Benjamin, from Hugh Road, Watford, and White, of Riverbank Mews, Stafford, deny conspiracy to kidnap. White also pleaded not guilty to unlawfully imprisoning Mr Jutla. A third man admitted conspiracy to kidnap, the jury was told. The trial continues.