A MAN has been jailed for more than 13 years over the kidnap of an accountant who was ambushed as he walked to his car in broad daylight.

Maninder Singh, along with three other men, bundled the man into a van in Wolverhampton on the evening of October 10, 2022.

The men then took him bound and blindfolded to a shop in Coseley where they threatened him with violence and held a gun to his head, West Midlands Police have said.

He was kept captive for around seven hours with his ordeal only ending after the men persuaded one of his work colleagues to leave £19,000 in a bag at a bus stop as a ransom.

The men then left him in the van, which they later claimed was stolen, in Coseley, where he managed to get out and call the police.

Using CCTV, automated number plate recognition (ANPR) and mobile phone data,

Investigators used CCTV, automated number plate recognition (ANPR) and mobile phone data, to piece together what happened.

Officers also discovered a group chat called 'Robbers Gang' on one of the men's phones which had been created just two days before the kidnap.

On Tuesday (April 16) Singh, aged 37, of Trysull Road, Bradmore, was jailed for 13 years and three months, at Wolverhampton Crown Court, after pleading guilty to conspiracy to kidnap and conspiracy to blackmail.

The three other men involved are currently serving jail terms of between 13 and 16 years after being convicted in July last year. 

DC Dan David, from our Major Crime Team, said: "This was a terrifying ordeal for their victim, which left him fearing for his life.

“It was carried out with the sole aim of extracting a large sum of money but instead, each of these men involved is now serving a significant time behind bars.”