THREE Otley men who kidnapped and sadistically tortured a teenage workmate have been jailed for a total of 17 and a half years.

Simon Ellwood, 19, was bound and gagged, suspended from a moving van, nailed to a floor and doused with petrol during his terrifying ordeal.

John Ashley, 29, of Crow Lane, Craig Wilkinson, 23, of Moor View, Bradford Road and Robert Fields, 27, of Cambridge Terrace, were jailed at Leeds Crown Court on Friday, April 8.

Judge Ian Dobkin told the men, who all worked for the same plastering firm in the town, that they had behaved in a way which could hardly be believed in the 21st Century.

He said they had felt entitled to behave like mobsters or dinosaurs in the hit film Jurassic Park, playing with their prey.

Ashley, the ringleader, was jailed for seven years, Wilkinson for six years and Fields, the least involved, for four and a half.

The judge said he could scarcely believe that three so-called civilised young men could behave as they did.

He said they trussed up Mr Ellwood and then nailed him down.

"This is a completely unspeakable and disgraceful piece of unpleasant and nauseating behaviour on your part," he said.

"In the end he did not suffer serious injury but the emotional impact is difficult to foresee for a long time."

Prosecutor Simon Batiste told the court that Ashley was the prime mover when the three men kidnapped Mr Ellwood from his caravan in Westgate, Otley, on Friday, December 3.

Ashley, who ran the firm that employed his co-defendants and Mr Ellwood, was angry after a mobile phone was stolen from a customer's house in Menston.

Mr Batiste told how Mr Ellwood was bundled into the back of Ashley's work van and driven into the countryside.

He was bound and gagged with rope and tape and suspended from the roof of the van. Ashley then drove the vehicle, banging Mr Ellwood's head and shoulders on the sides.

He was cut down and kicked and punched by Wilkinson who stamped on the back of his head, breaking his nose.

The men then took Mr Ellwood to Ashley's home where he was nailed to the floor by his clothes and Ashley poured petrol over his head and into his right eye.

The court heard that Ashley then said: "There's going to be a barbecue."

Mr Batiste said that Mr Ellwood could smell the petrol and he became hysterical.

Ashley made a trail of petrol that stopped just short of Mr Ellwood's face and lit it.

Fields then threw water on the flames, saying it was not what had been planned.

All three defendants then took photos of Mr Ellwood while he was nailed down.

He ripped himself up from the floor and fled to his girlfriend's home.

He was kept overnight in hospital suffering from numerous cuts and bruises. Mr Ellwood's father alerted the police and officers found a hammer, nails and petrol can at Ashley's home.

The court heard that Ashley had served a two-year jail sentence in the past for grievous bodily harm.

Rupert Doswell, for Wilkinson, said he had acted under Ashley's direction. Of good character, he felt unreserved remorse for what he had done. He played no part in dousing Mr Ellwood with petrol.

Steven Couch, for Ashley, said he had befriended Mr Ellwood and found him a home and given him a job.

Mr Ellwood had repaid his kindness by repeatedly not turning up to work and when a mobile phone went missing from a customer's house it was the last straw.

Mr Couch said that Ashley himself had been subjected to "summary justice within the building trade" himself, having been tied up for hours and suspended from a crane in unrelated incidents.

He had destroyed himself and probably his marriage.

His actions had cost him his business and he was £150,000 in debt.

"What he did was madness," said Mr Couch.

He added that Mr Ellwood must have been psychologically harmed, but his physical injuries were not grave.

Nick Lumley, for Fields, said he was of good character and his decent and loving family were bewildered by his actions.

"He can't believe what he allowed himself to become involved in. Never has the phrase 'out of character' been more apposite."

Fields did nothing physically to Mr Ellwood but it was a "master and servant relationship" with Ashley and he did as he was asked.

Judge Dobkin said: "I don't think I've ever heard a case like this before. It is barbaric and sadistic."