The van where the kidnap victim was held. Pic: West Midlands Police
Three men have been found guilty of kidnapping a man and cutting off his little finger as they demanded a ransom of £60,000.
The victim was talking to friends in Wood End, Coventry,
when he was seized at gunpoint by a gang wearing balaclavas who bundled
him into the back of a van.He was beaten and kicked, taken to a lock-up garage where he was bound and gagged with a bag over his head in the vehicle and had no food or water throughout his ordeal, West Midlands Police said.
His family were contacted by the kidnappers who demanded the ransom to release him.
But when the relatives did not respond quickly enough, the gang cut off his finger and left it under a brick on a garden wall for them to find, as they tried to force the family to pay up.
The distraught relatives immediately paid £20,000 and the victim was thrown out of the back of the vehicle 31 hours after his ordeal started.
He had been severely beaten with a metal bar and was taken to hospital for treatment.
Just over two hours later, armed police raided a house in Longford where several men were arrested for the kidnap in September last year.
The cash, all except for a few pounds, was also recovered from the address.
Ralph McLeod, Lewis Poyser and Yusuf Akbar denied the offence, but were found guilty of blackmail, unlawful imprisonment and wounding after a four-week trial at Warwick Crown Court.
Seven others pleaded guilty to various offences at an earlier hearing.
All were remanded and will appear at Leamington Justice Centre for sentencing on 23 January.
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