Nine years for ransom caller in teenager kidnap and torture case

Hassan Ahmed's voice was recognised when he phoned the brother of the 16-year-old victim demanding 20,000 be paid for his return.

The screams of the teenager, who was scalded with boiling water and burned with an iron, could be heard in the background.

Two men were jailed for the kidnap conspiracy in March and two others, including Ahmed's brother Shul Ali Hussain, were locked up for conspiracy to blackmail.

Ahmed, 25, of Karnac Road, Harehills, Leeds also admitted conspiracy to blackmail the victim's family in April last year.

Sentencing him yesterday at Leeds Crown Court, Judge Rodney Grant said: "You became involved in what can only be called a wicked and disturbing offence."

His accomplices abducted the teenager off the street and took him to a house in Belle Isle, Leeds, where he was tortured with boiling water and a hot iron.

"You were one of those who telephoned the family at a time when he was present because his voice could be heard screaming in the background. When you made that call to ask for money for his release the family was told he would be killed and if money was not paid it was repeatedly said he would be mutilated in some way, by having his fingers chopped off and the like."

He said it was an aggravating feature that Ahmed was on licence at the time from a jail sentence for wounding.

Helen Hendry, prosecuting, said Ahmed and his brother were recruited to try and secure the ransom money.

When police arrived at the house, having been called by a neighbour, the victim had been too terrified to tell them what had been going on and the officers left. It was only later the truth emerged.

John Oultram, for Ahmed, said he was an intelligent young man who had gone off the rails. He came from a good family who were devastated to have two sons behind bars but were standing by him. He was determined to turn his back on the sort of life he had been leading.

In March, Shaheed Rahman, 24, of Chapeltown, Leeds, was jailed for 12 years and nine months after pleading guilty to conspiracy to kidnap and blackmail. Rahman admitted using the iron on the teenager.

Syed Ahmed, 24, of Harehills, Leeds, who also pleaded guilty to kidnap and blackmail, got 12 years. He did not take part in the torture but did punch the victim.

Ahmed's brother Ali Shuel Hussain, and Abdul Rajaque, both from Chapeltown, pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit blackmail. Hussain, 28, who also admitted drugs offences, got 10 years in jail. Rajaque, 29, who had acted as a driver, got five years and three months. A sixth man is still being sought.