Man forced into body bag during six-hour Forest of Dean ordeal

Two men who tortured their victim for six hours, including placing him in a body bag in a hole in the ground, have been jailed. Joshua Rice, 38, and Andrew Rowbotham, 44, both from the Forest of Dean, previously pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm and making threats to kill, during the attack in July. Gloucester Crown Court heard how they had physically assaulted their victim - threatening to break his legs with a hockey stick and cut his finger off with a tool - and psychologically tortured him, threatening to rape and kill his female relatives. "They've taken away so much, I sometimes feel they did actually kill me," said the victim in a statement read to the court. The victim, aged in his 20s, met Rice and Rowbotham through a mutual acquaintance in June 2025 and was 'cuckooed' with the pair frequently visiting his house and asking him to store an unknown quantity of cash there. On 29 July Rice, of Coalway Road, Coleford, and Rowbotham, of no fixed abode, accused the victim of stealing the cash they had given him and ransacked his property. He was then told to drive the pair home, but was forced into the front passenger seat of the car during the journey wher

Apr 14, 2026 → Apr 14, 2026