THREE men who kidnapped a terrified motorist in North Dorset have been jailed by a judge at Bournemouth Crown Court.

Samuel Cooper, 23, had only just been released from Guy's Marsh, the prison and young offenders' institution near Shaftesbury, on August 17 last year when he embarked on a fresh round of crime.

He took a taxi into town, where he met up with his 25-year-old brother Daniel and 24-year-old John Burton.

The trio went to Tesco, where they bought lager, then to Shaftesbury Town Football Club, where a maintenance man was robbed.

They approached motorist Neil Bennett in Nettlecombe and offered him £5 to drive them to the Shaftesbury travellers' site.

On the way there, they forced him to drive his Peugeot 205 down a lane and stop.

Mr Bennett was assaulted and threatened.

He was bundled back into the car and they drove off.

As they were travelling on the A30 towards Salisbury, Mr Bennett threw himself out of the car, breaking his left hip.

The car was later abandoned and set on fire in a field.

Judge Christopher Harvey Clark gave Burton, of no fixed address, an indeterminate sentence for the kidnap, saying that the prison and probation service had a duty not to release him until he was no longer a danger to society.

Burton was given eight months concurrent for theft from the football club and 12 months concurrent for aggravated vehicle-taking.

He was also banned from driving for 12 months.

Samuel Cooper, of Blackmore Road, Shaftesbury, was jailed for four years for the kidnap with 12 months consecutive for robbing David Ackerman and 12 months concurrent for aggravated vehicle-taking. He was also banned from driving for a year.

Daniel Cooper of Salisbury Road, Shaftesbury, was jailed for four years for the kidnap, with eight months concurrent for stealing from the football club, 12 months concurrent for aggravated vehicle-taking and two months consecutive for breaching a suspended sentence.

He was banned from driving for a year.

Mr Bennett, 46, said he had lost his car and many of his possessions.

"After the excess, the insurance company offered me £17," he said.

"As far as I'm concerned the offenders get what they deserve.

"But even if that is prison they are being housed, fed and watered by the government.

"I have had to rely on my friends for nearly everything, for which I am very grateful.

"I still feel very bitter about the whole thing and fear some of my injuries may be permanent.

"How can people go around behaving like this and live with themselves?"

Investigating officer Detective Sergeant Martin Jobe of Blandford CID said the offenders had demonstrated "a complete disregard for our society".

"Their drunken violence put a totally innocent man in such fear for his life that he jumped from his fast-moving car in order to save himself. We can only imagine how he felt."

He said the crime had been solved with the help of a "terrific" public response and good images from Shaftesbury's CCTV cameras.