SHEIKH:JAIL FOR THUG WHO LEFT ASSOCIATE HANGING FROM FORKLIFT TRUCK

A businessman who tied up an associate and hung him half-naked from a forklift truck in a row about cash was jailed for 33 months today (Mon).

Muhammed Sheikh, 35, lured Saeed Noor to a warehouse after accusing him of thieving £100,000 from their company.

Sheikh forced Mr Noor to take off his trousers before stringing him up during the three hour ordeal.

He then called the police to the warehouse in Dagenham, Essex and told officers he had executed a ‘citizen’s arrest’ over the stolen cash.

Judge Jacqueline Beech said the ‘degrading’ attack was motivated by revenge following their business dispute.

‘It was one of the most ludicrous defences I have ever heard and had the misfortune to listen to as a judge, to justify keeping someone tied up against their will in excess of three hours,’ she said.

‘I have no doubt that this whole incident was…to deter Mr Noor from claiming his money from you.’

Mr Noor had lent Sheikh some £10,000 to help pay rent on a warehouse and to meet bills, but in July 2010, he asked for the cash back so he could take his family on a holiday to Greece.

Sheikh, said to be heavily in debt, went to Mr Noor’s house on July 4 last year and lured him to the warehouse with the promise of sorting out the dispute.

Instead, he was tied up, attacked, threatened with a knife and hung from a forklift truck in an ordeal lasting more than three hours.

Prosecutor Karen Holt said: ‘Mr Sheikh slapped Mr Noor around the face,’ Ms Holt said.

‘His trousers at one stage were taken off and he was left sitting in his underwear.’

Ms Holt said that while Mr Noor was tied up Sheikh barked at him ”Shall I give you your money now”.

Sheikh also filmed part of the attack, in which Noor can be seen tied up and begging for the ropes to be loosened, which also show the forklift truck on.

When police arrived at 10.15pm, Sheikh claimed that Noor had used his name to create fake accounts and forge cheques, stealing around £100,000 from their businesses.

Mr Noor was also investigated by police, but police did not find evidence to back up Sheikh’s claims.

Sheikh, of (147) Sutton Court Road, Plaistow, east London, was found guilty of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and false imprisonment

Former co-defendant Micko Kadic, 37, of Mill Farm Close, Pinner, Middsx, was earlier cleared of both counts by the jury at Snaresbrook Crown Court.

The court heard that Sheikh continues to deny his guilt.

Barry Myers, defending Sheikh, argued that as prosecutors had claimed that 6’8” Kadic was the one who had hung Noor from the truck, it could not have formed part of the attack.

But the judge rejected his argument, saying she was ‘sure’ that it had taken place after seeing videos which showed the truck was turned on during the attack on Noor.

Judge Beech told Sheikh: ‘You slapped him across the face so hard that he fell to the floor, and he was then tied up to a chair.

‘There then followed a period of at least three hours, during which Mr Noor remained tied up.

‘He was slapped around the face, he was hung upside down from a forklift truck.’

While he was hanging from the truck, Noor was assaulted again, and Sheikh twice rushed at him holding a knife, the judge said.

‘You were stopped from using that knife by your friend Kadic, and that must have been something that must have caused Mr Noor considerable additional distress,’ she said.

The fact that he was filmed had added to his ‘degradation’, she said.

Sheikh was handed a sentence of two years and nine months for the false imprisonment, with no extra term for the assault.
ends