Kidnapped schoolboy tortured with hot iron and boiling water by gang for £20,000 ransom

From the Daily Mail:

A gang who kidnapped and tortured a schoolboy by burning him with a hot iron to gain a £20,000 ransom have been jailed for a total of 40 years it was confirmed today.

The 16-year-old had boiling water poured over his legs during the five-hour ordeal in a bid to blackmail his family as part of a 'drugs debt'.

Shaheed Rahman and Syed Ahmed, both 24, admitted conspiring to kidnap the boy and blackmail at Leeds Crown Court yesterday.

The gang, which also included brothers Shuel Ali Hussain, 28, and Hassan Ahmed, 25, and Abdul Rajaque, 29, also threatened to cut off his fingers and kill him unless they were paid the money.

'Despicable': Shaheed Rahman (left) and Syed Ahmed (right) were jailed for 12 years and nine months and 12 years respectively for torturing a teenage boy

The teenager was bundled into a van as he walked home from a takeaway in Leeds on April 30 last year. He was driven to a nearby house where he was burnt eight times with the iron.

He also had a carrier bag and a pillow case placed over his head, was scalded with boiling water, threatened with a knife and punched, while the gang phoned his brother several times during the ordeal to demand the money.

When his family said they could only come up with £1,400, a gang member warned he would be 'returned in pieces' and said £1,400 was only enough for one of the boy's fingers.

Helen Hendry, prosecuting, said the gang members, all from Leeds, had not been careful to conceal their identities from the boy, showing a 'certain degree of arrogance'.

The court was told the boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was made to speak to his brother on a mobile phone while held captive.

He was forced to say: 'I was kidnapped. They are going to kill me. They want £20,000.'

A gang member then told the brother: 'I want £20,000 or I'm going to kill him.'

Guilty: Shuel Ali Hussain (left) and Abdul Rajaque (right) were also jailed. The gang threatened to cut off the schoolboy's fingers and kill him

The teenager was left with a catalogue of injuries, including burn imprints on his legs in the shape of an iron, the court heard. A burn on his thigh caused by hot or boiling water was in the same place as an iron burn.

Six months after his ordeal he was still too frightened to attend school, was having sleepless nights and suffering headaches.

Jailing the five gang members for a total of 40 years, Judge Rodney Grant said: 'There was violence and [the victim] was tortured. There is no other word which can be used.

'He was handcuffed and then subjected to scalding hot water being poured over his leg. A hot iron was applied to his leg on eight occasions and that must have been excruciatingly painful and terrifying for him as well.'

Referring to the ransom, the judge added: 'A threat was made that in the refusal of payment, this victim, a 16-year-old boy, would be murdered and mutilated.

'His fingers would be cut off, he would be sent back in pieces. These threats must have had a terrifying effect on his family.'

The court was told how police initially went to the house in Leeds after receiving a phone call from a worried neighbour, who reported hearing 'shouts and screams'.

But Rahman persuaded the teenager to lie about what had happened and he gave a false name to officers, who left the property despite recovering items including balaclavas, handcuffs and a kitchen knife.

Police returned later that night when the victim's brother reported the kidnapping.

Judge Grant jailed Rahman for a total of 12 years and nine months, while Syed Ahmed received a 12-year sentence.

Hussain was jailed for nine years after admitting conspiracy to blackmail and will serve an additional year after pleading guilty to drugs charges.

Rajaque, who played a lesser role, was jailed for five years and three months for conspiracy to blackmail.

Hassan Ahmed will be sentenced on March 22 to allow for the completion of a risk assessment for danger.

A sixth suspect, Ibrahim Majid - known as 'Biggie Brian' - is believed to have fled to Bangladesh.

Detective Superintendent Bill Shackleton, who led the investigation, said: 'This was a deeply traumatic experience for the young man who was taken hostage, and also for those members of his family who were obliged to deal with the demands made by the kidnappers.

'The fact that a 16-year-old young man was needlessly tortured with a hot steam iron and by having red hot water poured onto his skin made this offence all the more despicable.

'What this investigation has shown is that with the use of technologies now available to support the work of the police we are exceptionally adept at detecting this type of offence and in gathering evidence, arresting those responsible and bringing them before the courts.