A TEENAGER was taken on a terror ride by two thugs who attempted to set him alight, a court heard.

At Bolton Crown Court Fidel Johnson and Tyrone Alder were jailed after being found guilty by a jury of falsely imprisoning and robbing the 17-year-old.

At a sentencing hearing David James, prosecuting, told how the victim was at a friend’s house in Bury on the afternoon of September 29 last year when he got a phone call from Alder and they arranged to meet nearby in Hamilton Street.

The teenager got into a Corsa, driven by Johnson, but after travelling a short distance away was told that he was being held responsible for someone else’s £50 debt.

To enforce the message Alder punched him multiple times in the face before ordering him to strip to his underwear and stealing cash, a mobile phone, tobacco and a bank card from his clothing.

With the windows open, Johnson and Alder drove their shivering victim through Manchester city centre during a two and a half hour journey, telling him to keep his eyes shut and beating him again if he did not comply.

Mr James said at one point the car stopped in North Manchester and Johnson got out, but Alder then sprayed the victim with an air freshener and unsuccessfully attempted to light the liquid, telling the victim he had been “lucky” when the cigarette lighter failed

“Not content with robbing and heaping humiliation on him, he was kept prisoner in the back of the car,” commented Recorder Peter Wright QC. “He must have been utterly terrified of what might happen to him.”

Mr James said the teenager eventually persuaded his captors that his father, who he believed was at a pub, would be able to provide the cash and so he was driven to the Riverside Inn at Rawtenstall.

But pub goers became suspicious when Alder walked into the pub asking for the victim's father and police were called.

When the father did not come forward, he persuaded the pair to let him get dressed and go into the pub himself.

Johnson and Alder sped off after realising he was being protected by his father and the pub-goers, but police spotted their car and they were arrested after a short chase.

Johnson, aged 31, of Bradford Street, Bolton, and Alder, aged 25, of Bury New Road, Salford, denied falsely imprisoning and robbing the teen but were found guilty following a trial.

Recorder Wright heard how they both have previous records for violence, with Adler once imprisoning another man over a £60 drug debt, stripping him and burning him with a lit aerosol.

David Feingold, defending Alder, described him as a family man whose temper gets the better of him and Phillip Barnes, for Johnson, stressed that he had not been involved in using an aerosol on the victim.

Johnson was jailed for seven years and Alder was handed an extended sentence for public protection comprising of an eight year prison term with an additional two years on licence.

Recorder Wright told them: “His (the victim's) overriding emotion throughout the ordeal was one that he might die.

“The effect upon your victim was profound.”