A WARRANT has been issued for the arrest of a businessman found guilty of kidnap and false imprisonment at Maidstone Crown Court.

Dean Rice, 45, had been on bail during the trial but he failed to appear while the jury was out considering verdicts.

His wife, Nichole, who was also convicted, claimed she did not know where he was and said she had been "left in the lurch" with three children to look after.

Former Kent Cricket Club fitness trainer Anthony Toms was cleared of involvement in the vicious kidnap plot.

The 61-year-old, also an ex-trainer at Sheffield Wednesday FC, had been on trial for five weeks with the others.

The court heard how businessman Rice had former employee Alan Clarke kidnapped and taken to a derelict farm after accusing him of stealing.

The victim was bundled into a van in London, blindfolded with a woolly hat and driven to the remote spot in Shadoxhurst, near Ashford.

He eventually escaped by jumping out of a window and running for help.

Maidstone Crown Court heard that Mr Clarke worked for Erith Storage Ltd, run by Rice and his wife Nichole, for about eight months in 2004.

Andrew Espley, prosecuting, said Mr Clarke began to suspect that the business was not what it seemed and heard rumours that Rice was involved in drug smuggling.

Mr Clarke claimed that he was previously lured to a warehouse, threatened with a gun and attacked but the jury did not find an assault charge proved. He later received threatening phone calls.

Rice, his wife, 41, of Button Street, Swanley Village, champion body builder Trevor Chrouch, 39, of Sheffield, and Michael Kelly, 63, of Clayworth Close,

Sidcup, were found guilty of conspiracy to kidnap and conspiracy to falsely imprison.

Badhader More, 38, a former minder to Madonna, of Cecil Road, Gravesend, and Mr Toms, now of Carmarthen, Dyfed, Wales, were cleared of the charges.

Dean Rice, Chrouch and Mr Toms were also acquitted of assault causing actual bodily harm.

Those convicted were remanded in custody until November 7 and warned by the judge that they faced a "substantial" prison sentence.