A GANG kidnapped a man outside his home and held him captive in a storage unit where he was stripped naked and beaten with hammers after a £50,000 business deal went wrong, a court has been told.

The victim, Wasim Yaqub, had spent four years on the run before he was set up by his partner's father, 58-year-old Robert Collins, of Eastham Court, Severnside, Bewdley, a jury has been told.

On trial at Worcester Crown Court are five men who face charges including conspiracy to kidnap and wounding. Collins has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to kidnap and will be sentenced after the six-week trial.

Alan Kent, QC, prosecuting, said Collins was the father of Mr Yaqub's partner, Stacey Bayley. The couple had been changing addresses frequently with their two young children since 2009, when Mr Yaqub was involved in a business deal with Tariq Mahmood, one of the men on trial, who gave him £30,000.

Mr Yaqub added £10,000 of his own and £10,000 from another man and took the cash to London to invest in Bulgarian property but when he returned to the offices in Marylebone to get the money and the interest, they were locked and empty and the money was gone. Mahmood accused Mr Yaqub of running off with the money and had been hunting him for four years.

Mr Kent said Mr Yaqub, 37, and his partner had moved into a house in Upton Road, Kidderminster, and they had a feeling they could not trust her parents. On August 3 last year, she called her mother and father, who were in The Mug House pub in Bewdley and told them they planned to move to London.

Collins realised the kidnap plan would have to be put into operation and phoned Paul Murray, another of the accused, who called Tariq Mahmood and they travelled to Kidderminster. Miss Bayley was at home and had seen her father's black Jaguar cruising twice past her house to check it out in the evening of August 3. She called him and he lied, telling her he was in Bewdley but a series of phone calls with Murray placed him in Kidderminster.

Mr Yaqub and his partner were "blissfully unaware", Mr Kent said. Mr Yaqub returned from working as a delivery driver with a Chinese takeaway and Murray and Tariq Mahmood attacked him and forced him into a car driven by Robert Watters, who has also admitted conspiracy to kidnap.

Miss Bayley saw the abduction and the jury was played a recording of a 999 call she made "in fear and panic", Mr Kent said.

Mr Yaqub was taken to a farm in Birmingham, owned by a third defendant, Kulbir Bains. He was kept in a container unit, stripped naked and beaten with hammers. His ankle was broken and his face was badly injured.

He was left overnight and the following morning he was given his clothes back. He was having difficulty dressing and one of the men allegedly said "don't think this means we're not going to kill you because we are, and your children." He was then put in the boot of a car and taken to an address in another part of Birmingham in the early hours of the following morning. He was left in the boot and some women passing by heard his call for help. As they were calling police, Mahmood came out of the house and frightened them off but the kidnappers knew police were on their way, Mr Kent told the jury.

They drove off and dumped Mr Yaqub out of the car, where he was seen by passers-by.

Watters, 47, of Chester Road, Castle Bromwich, Birmingham, has also admitted conspiracy to kidnap.

Tariq Mahmood, 41, of Castle Hill Drive, Castle Bromwich, Birmingham, denies conspiracy to kidnap, false imprisonment, causing grievous bodily harm with intent and wounding with intent.Tehery Mahmood, 37, of Mears Drive, Stechford, Birmingham, denies false imprisonment and causing grievous bodily harm with intent.

Paul Murray, 42, of no fixed address, denies conspiracy to kidnap, false imprisonment and wounding with intent. Steven Taylor, 37, of Johnstone Street, Aston, Birmingham, denies false imprisonment and wounding with intent. Kulbir Bains, 40, of Meadowcroft, Gilson Road, Birmingham, conspiracy to kidnap, false imprisonment and causing grievous bodily harm with intent.

The trial continues.