A MILLIONAIRE jailed for 11 years for masterminding a kidnap and blackmail plot will bid next month to have his conviction overturned.

German-born businessman Volker Kappler was convicted by majority verdicts of ten to two on two charges of kidnap and two of blackmail involving North-East businessmen John Wood and David Langhorne.

The Northern Echo has learned that his appeal against that conviction will be now be heard at the Court of Appeal in London on June 24.

Kappler, who was jailed at Teesside Crown Court in October 2003, had hired a gang of armed men who posed as Customs officials to snatch the businessmen from Mr Wood's factory, in Hartlepool, in March of that year.

They were beaten, bound, blindfolded and driven 200 miles to North Wales, where they were told they and their children would be killed unless they handed over £600,000.

Kappler had hatched the plot after he discovered a VAT scam involving the companies of Mr Wood, Mr Langhorne and their associate Paul Thompson, who owed him more than £500,000.

Kappler's gang, who have still not been apprehended, watched Mr Wood and Mr Langhorne and their families for four weeks before they struck.

The court heard how Kappler, now 38, was revealed as their captor when they arrived at his plastics factory in North Wales, where guns were placed against their heads and they were given three days to pay the money.

The pair, who had recently received large VAT rebates, were then left in a field on Merseyside, and arranged for the money to be paid.

They later blocked the transaction and told police of their ordeal. Kappler was arrested a short time later.