Violent drug kidnapper wins cut in sentence

THE leader of a gang who kidnapped and menaced a Rotherham drugs courier for double crossing him on a deal has had his minimum jail sentence cut.

Daoud Khan (31), of Middlesbrough, recruited a mob to capture a 21-year-old man from Rotherham who made off with 15kg of skunk cannabis he had been recruited to transport from Birmingham to Teesside in February last year.

Instead of delivering drugs to Middlesbrough, the courier drove to Sheffield with the stash, where Khan and two enforcers, Feras Saad and Sarbaz Hussain Abdullah, caught up with him.

The gang kidnapped him from outside a Tesco store in Sheffield, drove him to several addresses, locked him in a cupboard, held a gun to his head and threatened to chop off his fingers.

Khan also shot at a car and the bullet missed a man’s head by only inches.

Khan pleaded guilty to conspiracy to kidnap, possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life, and intimidation at Sheffield Crown Court and, in February this year, was jailed indefinitely for public protection.

He was ordered to serve at least eight years before he could even apply for parole.

Saad (27), of Outram Street, Middlesbrough, was convicted of conspiracy to kidnap, along with Abdullah (27), of Lopham Street, Burngreave, Sheffield. Saad received seven years and Abdullah six.

Lord Justice Laws, Mr Justice Blake and Judge Richard Brown, sitting at London’s Criminal Appeal Court on Wednesday, allowed Khan’s appeal and reduced his minimum jail term to seven years.

However, the judges rejected appeals against conviction and sentence by Abdullah, and against conviction alone by Saad.