THREE members of a gang who kidnapped and tortured a bus driver with a hot iron are facing jail.

Gabriel Dugbo, 24, was burnt on his face, body and genitals as his relatives were made to listen to his agonised screams over the phone.

Dwayne Callender, aged 24, Daniel Lindo and James Thomas, both aged 18, are all facing years behind bars for their roles in the kidnap plot.

Mr Dugbo was held for five days and escaped only after a social worker made a chance visit to the flat where he was being kept prisoner in Lewisham.

He was attacked as he finished driving the number 21 bus in the early hours of September 1 last year and got into his car parked at the New Cross depot in Pepys Road.

The three men jumped into the car and forced him into the back seat, Inner London Crown Court heard.

Mr Dugbo, who was being blamed for his brother's debt, was repeatedly punched and feigned unconsciousness as he was driven to a flat in nearby Sydenham.

He was tied up, blindfolded with tape and beaten.

The kidnappers burnt him with an iron and phoned his brother for a ransom.

Mr Dugbo told the court: "There was one point where they took off my clothes and my trousers and they were burning me all over."

Three days after the kidnap his captors locked him a toilet at a second flat belonging to Thomas, in Broome Street, Lewisham.

There he was tied to the sink and radiator and made to disclose addresses of friends and relatives.

But on the fifth day the ordeal was foiled when Thomas's key worker came to check the property and found Mr Dugbo in his cramped prison.

Callender, of no fixed address, was convicted of conspiracy to kidnap between August 31 and September 6 last year. He was cleared of conspiracy to possess a firearm.

Daniel Buchanan, aged 24, of St Margaret's Road, Brockley, was cleared of the same two charges after insisting he was never present.

Thomas, of Broome Street, Lewisham admitted conspiracy to kidnap and Lindo, of Beckenham Hill Road, Beckenham, admitted a charge of false imprisonment on September 5.

The gang were warned by Judge Colin Smith they face a "substantial custodial sentence for this extremely serious offence."

Callender was remanded in custody pending sentence on November 3 along with Thomas and Lindo, who are both on bail.