‘Honour’ gang who bundled victim into car boot before torturing him in shipping container over romance with attackers’ sister is jailed for nearly 40 years

The gang who tortured a man by wrapping him in the trunk of a car, tying him up, kidnapping him for ‘honour’ purposes because they did not approve of his relationship, were sentenced to nearly 40 years in prison.

The 21-year-old victim was kidnapped from outside his home by masked men after he began having sex with the sister of two of his attackers.

Harrowing footage was captured of the moment he was dragged from the property in front of his mother and put into the boot of a black Audi A4 in Arleston, Telford, Shropshire, on December 29 last year.

He was then driven from the scene with his legs dangling over the trunk, before the kidnappers stopped a short time later to close the door.

The young man was then taken to a rented shipping container where he was tied to a chair and beaten, eventually managing to escape by locking himself in the Audi before his captors got out of the vehicle.

24-year-old Shayyan Hussain, 23-year-old Faheem Chohan and 22-year-old Ehteshan Hussain were sentenced to seven and a half years in prison, while 21-year-old Jawad Hussain was sentenced to seven years in prison.

All four Telford men previously pleaded guilty to kidnapping at Shrewsbury Crown Court.

Haider Ali, 22, also from Telford, was jailed for seven years after a jury found him guilty of kidnapping. He reached the storage container in a second car before driving other members of the gang away from the scene.

The kidnappers sped off, trunk open and feet out, before taking their victim to a shipping container.

Shayyan Hussain, 24, was one of the two brothers who disapproved of their sister’s relationship with their friends.

Ehteshan Hussain, 22, and his brother were responsible for planning the conspiracy, the court heard.

Judge Trevor Meegan, who handed down the sentence, stated that the kidnapping took place out of family ‘honor’, that it was not done ‘on impulse’ and that a great deal of preparation was made.

He said the Hussain brothers ‘took a leading operational role’ and did most of the planning, while Faheem Chohan and Jawad Hussain ‘willingly participated’ in the kidnapping and attack.

The judge added: ‘This was an extremely disturbing crime in which a young man was kidnapped and abused for the purpose of intimidating and humiliating him.’

Prosecutor Jack Guise said the reason for the kidnapping was that the victim, a lifelong friend of the gang, had sex with the Hussein brothers’ sister.

He said: ‘Before the date of the kidnapping, the victims and defendants were not strangers.

‘The families were from the same village in Pakistan; Two of the defendants are brothers, and the other two are distant cousins.

‘They went on holiday together, had family dinners together… went to the same mosque.’

But Mr Guise said the relationship between the victim and the other men soured when the Hussain brothers began sending messages to his sister saying the pair ‘did not approve’ of the relationship.

The court heard that before the kidnapping, cars drove past the victim’s home or followed him on the highway on his way to work, in an attempt to warn the victim about the relationship.

Once, while he was in the car with his brother, one of the defendants confronted the victim with a baseball bat.

The gang took their victim to a rented warehouse, where they tied him up and beat him.

The gang had to stop their journey to close the boot of the car after their victim was locked out

Mr Guise said that on the day of the abduction the victim was at home with his mother and an electrician was doing some work at the house.

At 2.18pm an Audi stopped outside the house and three men got out and attacked the property.

They walked past the electrician, grabbed the victim, dragged him outside and stuffed him into the boot of a black Audi A4.

Shocking CCTV footage showed the victim’s mother screaming and running after her son, before one of the men emotionlessly pushed her to the ground as she tried to stop the men from leaving.

A fourth masked man was behind the wheel and drove off, with two of the defendants in the car and the third defendant and the victim in the trunk.

The vehicle stopped briefly, passing through Wellington, Telford, where the men were hanging from the back of the boot, at which point the third man emerged from the boot and closed the door.

Eventually the car stopped at a storage unit in Eyton, Shropshire, where Ehteshan Hussain had rented a secure storage container.

The victim was taken in, stripped, tied to a chair, and punched repeatedly by his four captors.

Mr Guise said the ‘torture’ continued with the four men recording videos of the beatings and making their victims apologize to the brothers’ father on camera.

Ali arrived 20 minutes after the group of four in the Volkswagen and left with Jawad and Shayyan in the Audi ten minutes later, with the trio then dropping off at Lilleshall Golf Club.

Jawad Hussain, 21, was sentenced to seven years in prison for his role in the conspiracy

Faheem Chohan, 23, was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison in court this week

Haider Ali pleaded not guilty to kidnapping but was convicted by a jury; now sentenced to seven years in prison

Ali then dropped Shayyan and Jawad off at a different address in Arleston before returning to the unit at Volkswagen to pick up Ehteshan and Chohan.

After leaving the man tied up in the dark, the victim’s father was summoned and demanded £20,000 from the family.

The caller threatened to kill the victim by throwing her off the bridge and said the victim would ‘not come home’ if she did not pay.

The abandoned Audi was later spotted and reported to the police via CCTV, which was able to lead police to Ali.

While Ali was in police custody, a video of the victim being tortured by the kidnappers was sent to his phone at 19.11.

Using this, officers were able to identify the other four kidnappers as Jawad, Ehteshan, Shayyan and Chohan.

Meanwhile, the gang returned to the unit just before 8pm and, after putting the victim in a car, drove off towards north Shropshire.

At 9.58pm police received a call from a takeaway restaurant in Whitchurch, Shropshire, stating that a man had escaped abduction and was seriously injured. Police teams came to the scene and determined that the person was the victim.

He told officers that while the gang was outside the car, he was able to lock the doors and get to safety by noticing the keys in the ignition.

He was later taken to hospital for treatment of facial injuries, including a fractured eye socket, rib injuries and bruising to his hands and arms.

The victim was also able to confirm the identities of the four men and officers arrested Jawad Hussain, Ehteshan Hussain and Chohan, while Shayyan Hussain surrendered to police the next day.

In his victim impact statement, the young man said he now ‘rarely leaves the house’ and added that ‘being kidnapped changed my life’.

Jawad, Ehteshan, Chohan and Shayyan pleaded guilty to kidnapping in January 2026. Ali pleaded not guilty to the charge but was found guilty after a two-week trial last month.

A sixth man charged with kidnapping was also found not guilty of any involvement.

Detective Chief Inspector Lee Holehouse said: ‘This was a horrific ordeal for the victim, who was kidnapped by men he considered friends for much of his life.

‘He was dragged from his home, held against his will, subjected to violent assault and threatened with death. The actions of these men were both cruel and calculated, and the sentences imposed on them reflect the seriousness of their crimes.

‘I would like to commend the victim for her courage and resilience throughout this investigation and court process.’

Savera UK is a leading charity working to end ‘honour’ abuse (HBA) and other harmful practices including forced marriage, spiritual abuse and conversion ‘therapy’.

It provides life-saving and life-changing services for survivors and those at risk, regardless of age, culture, ethnicity, disability, sexuality or gender, and provides assistance and advice for professionals, education and training, research and campaigning work.

National helpline: 0800 107 0726 (10:00 – 16:00, Monday – Friday)

Get help online: https://www.saverauk.co.uk/I-need-help/

If you are at immediate risk please call 999