A gang leader who kidnapped and tortured a man wrongly suspected of stealing £40,000 worth of drugs has been jailed for 14 years.

Kofi Francis, 23 , was sentenced at Woolwich Crown Court last Friday having previously been found guilty of conspiracy to kidnap, GBH with intent, robbery and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

He will also be subject to an extended licence period of two years.

Fellow gang members Daren Davis, 27, Daniel Edwards, 49 and Daniel Cogger, 26, were jailed fro a total of 22 years last month. All four men are from Greenwich.

Dillian Ode, 23, of Lewisham, was jailed for a year for conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

Just before midnight on April 19 the group kidnapped the 22-year-old victim at knifepoint in Plumstead.

The gang wanted their heroin and crack cocaine back which they wrongly suspected him of stealing and violently attacked him with a knife as they drove to a remote field in Southfleet.

Once in Kent, the man was beaten, tortured, robbed and stabbed by his captors. While the victim was being tortured, Edwards and Cogger were visiting an address in London attempting to recover the stolen drugs on instruction of Francis.

The victim’s ordeal came to an end through pure good fortune when the Kent, Sussex and Surrey Air Ambulance helicopter flew over the fields testing its search light ahead of a response to an unrelated road traffic collision a mile away.

The group who had kidnapped the man mistook the Air Ambulance for police activity related to their actions.

They panicked and scrambled to get away, allowing the victim to run away into the darkness, and seek assistance whilst bleeding profusely from his injuries.

The victim was treated in hospital for serious stab wounds to the hands, and is yet to fully recover from his injuries.

Met detectives arrested Edwards two days later at his home in Plumstead and located a drugs factory and a substantial amount of crack cocaine in a safe.

While Francis was remanded in prison he recruited an associate, Dillian Ode. They planned to pay the victim £12,000 to withdraw his prosecution.

However, the investigation team deployed undercover police officers to take over communication, thwarting their plan before any money changed hands.