PURE EVIL - VIDEO

Sheffield Crown Court heard Tayeb Habib, aged 16, together with 18-year-olds Nashad Khan and Mohammed Anwar grabbed Qamar Sohail as he was making a delivery in Totley then bundled him into his own car.

The trio took the 19-year-old on a terror ride around Sheffield subjecting him to horrific beatings.

The terrified takeaway man was then driven to Birmingham by Khan and Anwar who threatened to kill him and dump his body.

They also threatened to attack his family if he tried to cry out.

At Sheffield Crown Court, Habib was jailed for five years, Khan for seven and Anwar for seven and a half.

Det Sgt Neil Vaughan, from Woodseats CID, who led the investigation, welcomed the sentences and said he hoped they were a deterrent to others.

He said: "The actions of these three was pure evil. Their subhuman behaviour deserved the sentence that has been meted out.

"This type of behaviour will not be tolerated."

The court heard Mr Sohail - a student from Nether Edge who worked part time for the New India Garden takeaway on London Road - was singled out at random.

He was forced to drive to a pub after the trio, who smoked cannabis and laughed as they punched him repeatedly, told him they had come to the area to kill someone.

Mr Sohail tried to escape in Dore but was caught and beaten. He was then taken to Langton's Snooker Centre on London Road and told he would be taken to Birmingham and murdered.

Witnesses said they had heard a man begging for his life as a white car drove by.

During the journey Mr Sohail was forced to try to rob a service station near Derby, but once inside he asked staff to phone police.

Police stopped the car near junction 29 of the M1 as it was returning from Birmingham.

Officers said Mr Sohail was badly beaten and had broken down with emotion.

In a victim impact statement read out by prosecutor Rachel Harrison, Mr Sohail said: "This whole ordeal has had a major impact on my life.

"I can no longer sleep or study. I have lost weight and the ability to play sports and I am scared to go out or take a ride in other people's cars. This has cost me my friends at a time when I need their support more than ever."

Habib, of Dalton Court, Abbeydale, who pleaded not guilty to kidnap, false imprisonment and assault was convicted on all three charges by a jury following a trial.

Khan, of Calvert Road, Darnall, admitted kidnap and Anwar, of Charlotte Road, Highfield, pleaded guilty to false imprisonment.

Sentencing, Judge Simon Lawler QC said: "Qamar Sohail was subjected to a terrifying experience and all because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"He truly believed he was going to be killed and was begging you to let him go but you didn't."