A man who worked at a Dorset petrol station has been jailed for his role in the kidnap of the couple who owned it.

Henry Ajanthan, 33, of Manor Garden in Swanage, who worked at the Texaco petrol station at Victoria Avenue, Swanage, and Ramesh Sornalingam, 38, of York Road in Gloucester, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to kidnap, false imprisonment and blackmail at Croydon Crown Court.

Ajanthan was sentenced to nine years’ imprisonment and Sornalingam was jailed for seven and a half years.

The kidnapping took place in May last year in India when British couple, Kanapathipillai Thavarajah and his wife Salajah, were on holiday.

Indian polilce rescued the couple and investigations showed Ajanthan and Sornalingam’s involvement.

Ajanthan was arrested at the petrol station where he worked on June 2.