A family man was locked up today after he admitted blackmailing a man whose brother was being held hostage in Pakistan.

Rehmat Awan, 55, of Toller Grove, Heaton, Bradford, pleaded guilty at Bradford Crown Court to conspiracy to commit blackmail.

It was alleged Awan conspired with others, between December 2006 and the following February, to gain for himself or cause the loss of £400,000 from Mohammed Zaman.

His barrister, Mukhtar Hussain, QC, asking for an adjournment for pre-sentence reports, said his client recognised a sentence of imprisonment would follow.

Mr Hussain said he was a family man of good character, who was well settled in Bradford, and asked for his conditional bail to be renewed.

A second man, Masood Sarwar, 51, of Woodford Green, Essex, had pleaded guilty at a previous hearing to the same charge. Both men were remanded in custody until the sentencing hearing in March.

Judge Shaun Spencer, QC, told Awan: "Due to the nature and gravity of the charge to which you have pleaded guilty, and the proximity of the sentencing hearing, there must be substantial grounds for believing the defendant may fail to surrender. Bail is withdrawn in those circumstances."

The blackmail case arose following the kidnap of 47-year-old businessman Sabir Mughal in Mirpur, Pakistan, in February last year.

Mr Mughal, whose family lives in Bradford, was on his way to work at the hardware shop he owns when he was snatched off the street at gunpoint. A phoned ransom demand was made the same day from Pakistan to Mr Mughal's brother in Bradford, Mohammed Zaman.

Mr Zaman called police and officers from West Yorkshire's Homicide and Major Enquiry Team, along with the Serious Organised Crime Agency, conducted negotiations through Mr Zaman.

After 15 days - the longest running English kidnap investigation - Mr Mughal was released after the ransom money was paid. During his ordeal he was drugged, beaten, chained to a radiator, repeatedly told he would be killed and threatened to be strung up by his ankle from a ceiling fan.

Police established that Awan was a long-standing family friend of Mr Zaman and donated money to cover the ransom demand. They discovered he was in touch with the hostage takers in Pakistan and feeding them information about what was happening in the UK.

Mr Zaman and members of his family travelled to London, on the instructions of the hostage takers, and handed over the money to a man outside a currency exchange.

But police had them under surveillance and saw the money being handed to Sarwar. He was later seen to pay some of it into his building society account. He was arrested after the release of the hostage and some of the ransom money found in a holdall in his bedroom. Awan was arrested in Bradford shortly after.