A RESTAURANT owner who tortured a man by making him drink his own blood has been jailed for nine years.

Linh Le, of Marathon Way, Thamesmead, subjected Joe Smith to a terrifying ordeal after mistaking him for a police officer.

Ivory Coast national Mr Smith visited Le at his restaurant in Old Kent Road on January 20 last year to ask for his help in getting a British passport.

But when he arrived things turned nasty because Le thought Mr Smith and his friend Peter Dennis were police officers.

Le, originally from Vietnam, tied Mr Smith to a chair and threatened him with a stun gun.

The 41-year-old and his accomplices Gary Bartley, aged 33, and Paul Efayena, aged 27 left him with a fractured skull after a savage beating.

They also made the 30-year-old victim drink a glass of his own blood as he begged for water.

Le denied charges of blackmail, two counts of causing grievous bodily harm with intent and two counts of false imprisonment but was found guilty by a jury at Inner London Crown Court on January 19.

Bartley, of Beadnell Road, Forest Hill, and Efayena, from Peckham, pleaded not guilty to the same charges but were also found guilty and jailed for nine years.

A fourth man, John Teoh, aged 32, of no fixed abode, was cleared of any involvement in the crimes.