THREE men who were part of a gang which kidnapped a man outside his Kidderminster home and tortured him in a storage container have been found guilty after a four-week trial.

A jury at Worcester Crown Court returned unanimous verdicts on Tehery Mahmood, Steven Taylor and Kulbir Singh Bains and they were remanded in custody for sentence next Monday with four accomplices.

The court was told that the victim, 37-year-old Wasim Yaqub, was targeted after a £50,000 business deal went wrong. He 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.

Mr Yaqub was abducted from an address in Upton Road, Kidderminster, and held captive in a storage unit, where he was stripped naked and beaten with hammers. His ankle was broken and his face badly injured. He was taken to Birmingham in the boot of a car and dumped.

Tariq Mahmood, 41, of Castle Hill Drive, Castle Bromwich, and Paul Che Murray, 42, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to kidnap. Bains, 40, of Meadowcroft, Gilson Road, Birmingham, was convicted by the jury.

On a charge of false imprisonment, Tariq Mahmood and Murray pleaded guilty. Tehery Mahmood, 37, of Mears Drive, Stetchford, Bains and Steven Taylor, 37, of Johnstone Street, Aston, were convicted by the jury.

Tariq Mahood and Murray pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm with intent. Tehery Mahmood and Bains were found guilty.

Kidnap victim Mr Yaqub, who had been an estate agent in Birmingham, gave evidence to the court by video link from a secret address. He said he had been living in fear since a property deal went wrong and had moved house 17 times after receiving threats.

Collins, father of his partner Stacey Bayley, has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to kidnap.