Four admitted unlawful imprisonment

The 19-year-old driver was warned he would be stabbed and his 16-year-old girlfriend would be raped if he did not do as he was told.

The gang also spat at the frightened teenager and flicked ash on him, burnt the vehicle seats with cigarettes and tried to burn his jacket.

Teesside Crown Court heard that the victim was so traumatised by his experience that for weeks he was too afraid to leave his home.

The four – all from travelling families – were spared jail, but were told by a judge: “You are all an inch away from it.”

George Honeyman, 18, David Thomas, 18, Sean Finney, 19, and a 16-year-old who cannot be named, all admitted unlawful imprisonment.

The 16-year-old, from North Yorkshire, also pleaded guilty to criminal damage after kicking the vehicle when he finally got out.

Their behaviour was yesterday described as “mindless, drunken, juvenile bullying”

by Michael Bosomworth, for Honeyman.

Mr Bosomworth urged Judge George Moorhouse to spare them jail.

Finney, from Kirkaldy, Fife, was given a punishment and rehabilitation order with supervision and ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work.

The others received community orders with supervision and ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work, while all four had to pay £200 compensation.

Defence barristers said all four teenagers were sorry for what happened, but did not plan to do what they did when they got in the pick-up.

The court heard that Honeyman, of The Crossway, Darlington, knew the driver and asked for a lift to a pub when he saw him in Bishop Auckland on August 16 last year.

When the four got into the vehicle, the driver was told to take them elsewhere and, fearing for the safety of his girlfriend, complied.

Over the next 90 minutes, the teenager was ordered to drive them around Darlington.

At a travellers’ site in Darlington, Thomas, of Yarm Road, in the town, warned the driver to go slowly or face being stabbed.