Estate agent who kidnapped and tortured her boss for seven hours after she was sacked is jailed for 10 years



Guilty: Ambreen Gul was jailed for 10 years today for the kidnap and torture of her former boss Waqas Malik

An estate agent kidnapped, tortured and drugged her former boss while demanding a £200,000 ransom from his wife in revenge for firing her.

Ambreen Gul lured wealthy businessman Waqas Malik to her flat by pretending she wanted him to value it.

The evil 23-year-old recruited another disgruntled sacked colleague Mokshud Ali and three of his friends to act as 'heavies'.

When Gul and Malik arrived at her home, he was punched, stamped on and pistol-whipped on the kitchen floor before being bound and blindfolded with ducktape and tied to a chair in a terrifying seven-hour ordeal.

The 48-year-old was forced to call his bemused wife three times and tell her he needed her to get £200,000 for a 'big deal' he was doing.

He was threatened with a knife and gun and told he and his 13-year-old son would be executed if he did not come up with the money.

His kidnappers then forced him to drink a powerful sedative which rendered him unconscious and nearly sent him into a coma.

Fearing he might die, Gul panicked, bundled him into a car and drove him back to his home where he lived with his wife Uzma and two sons, aged nine and 13.

Mukshud Ali (left) and Quasim Ahmed were both jailed for their part in the kidnap plot

As Mrs Malik dragged her husband into the house, Gul accused him of being drunk and sexually assaulting her before driving off.

Mr Malik spent four days in hospital where he was treated for gashes to his head, a black eye and a split lip.

He is still suffering from the psychological trauma of the attack and is struggling to work and support his family.

Shakib Chowdhury was convicted along with his co-conspirators

Gul and her accomplices were arrested after Scotland Yard's Kidnap Unit were tipped off by an anonymous 999 call.

Yesterday Gul was jailed for ten years at Southwark Crown Court in London.

Judge Deborah Taylor described it as a 'premeditated and brutal attack' and told Gul: 'Throughout this case you have shown little remorse and consistently shown yourself to be dishonest and manipulative, prepared to do or say anything to save yourself even writing to Mr Malik to try and get him to change his mind about pursuing this case.'

She said: 'These are serious and ugly crimes and it is chilling to those as young as you to be involved in them.'



Gul and 18-year-old Ali worked at Sky Lord Properties, a sales and letting agent in Ilford, East London, for a few months when Mr Malik decided they were not up to the job and dismissed them.



Furious and hellbent on revenge, Gul hatched the kidnap plot and enlisted Ali to help her.

He recruited friends Quasim Ahmed, 21, an IT student, 19-year-old Shakim Chowdhury, a student and former player for West Ham and Arsenal under 17 teams and a third man.

At about 7pm on June 18 last year, several weeks after being sacked, she went to Sky Lord and asked Mr Malik to have a look at her two-bed flat in Hackney, East London.

Once inside, she gave the signal to 'her boys' who burst in with their faces masked with balaclavas and scarves and attacked Mr Malik.

His captors laughed and chatted as one of the gang stood on Mr Malik's hands and head before sticking a strip of tape over his eyes.

He was kicked, punched and pistol-whipped, threatened with a knife and told he would be shot dead. Gul directed operations and brandished a gun at the victim.

One kidnapper another warned that he would never see his family again unless he raised £200,000 ransom and was told failure would result in the executions of both himself and his 13-year-old son.

The thugs stole his wallet, which contained £1,300 in cash and his Mitsubishi jeep, which was later found abandoned.

When the victim passed out they took him home to Ilford at about 3am the next morning.

Ali, of Barking, East London, was sentenced to seven years and nine months in a young offenders' institution.

Ahmed was jailed for eight years for his part and Chowdhury, of Ilford, was sentenced to for eight and a half years in a young offenders' institute.

Earlier a fifth defendant, Al-Imran Uddin, 20, of Dagenham, East London was cleared of all charges.

Gul and Chowdhury were found guilty of false imprisonment, administering a poison or noxious substance, wounding with intent, blackmail, having an imitation firearm and theft.

Ahmed, of Barking, East London, was found guilty of five identical charges but was cleared of administering a poison or noxious substance.

Ali, of Barking, pleaded guilty to false imprisonment, wounding with intent, blackmail, having an imitation firearm and theft before the trial began.

Gul has previous convictions for perverting the course of justice for lying that her sister's boyfriend had tried to run her over.

She was also given a 15-month suspended sentence for fraud for claiming child benefit for her sister's baby, claiming it was hers.

Detective Sergeant John Bishop, of the Met's Kidnap Unit, said: 'Gul was the driving force behind this horrific attack. She is an evil and calculated individual who was motivated by sheer greed and revenge.'

Detective Chief Inspector John O'Leary said 'The Metropolitan Police are pleased that the sentences awarded reflect the gravity of the offences, the ordeal suffered by the victim and will also act as a deterrent to others.'