Man forced into body bag during six-hour torture

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 where he was assaulted.

He was also forced to hand over his car keys and phone, and was burnt with a cigarette lighter before arriving at Rice's house, where he was threatened with weapons including a curved knife held up to his eye.

The court heard Rice also forced the victim to give him the names of his female relatives, which he then searched for on social media and threatened to rape and kill them if the victim reported the pair to police.

Later that afternoon, the victim was driven to a picnic area in the Forest of Dean, where he was gagged and taken to a hole in the ground. He was forced to sit in the hole while he was blindfolded with his hands zip-tied behind him before being covered in black sheeting which he described as a "body bag".

The pair continued their threats to kill him and held something against his head, forcing the victim to beg for his life. Eventually relating the pair took him back to the car, ordering him to clean himself and his car of any evidence.

A relative reported the incident to police and the pair were arrested, with weapons and items used in the attack found at Rice's home and the site in the Forest of Dean.

In police interview, both men denied the offence, but they were subsequently charged and remanded in custody. Rice and Rowbotham later pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm and making threats to kill.

In a statement read in court the victim said he had suffered from flashbacks, especially related to being forced into the body bag.

"[It] was probably five to ten minutes but felt like a lifetime as they talked about killing me," he said.

"They might not have murdered me, even though I could feel their threats were real enough, but due to the incident, I've sometimes felt so low I've wanted to take my own life," he added.

Recorder Mawhinney sentenced Rice to four years and four months imprisonment.

He said Rowbotham had shown some remorse for his actions and had "from time to time" tried to discourage Rice from his actions, handing him a prison sentence of three years and seven months.

Both men were also given a five-year restraining order and were each ordered to pay costs to the victim of £228.

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