An oil tycoon was beaten and kidnapped twice as Russian gangsters made more than £1.7m worth of ransom demands, a court heard.

Semeon Agadjanov, 51, of Braeside, Beckenham, was allegedly chained to the floor and beaten with a hammer during his double ordeal.

Middlesex Guildhall Crown Court heard how Artour Sakisan, Alexei Spodin, both 32 and Vladislan Agafonov, 30, first kidnapped Mr Agadjanov from his home on August 13, 1998.

Mr Agadjanov told the jury he was dragged from his house and driven to a hideout where he claimed he was pulled out of the car, blindfolded, and bundled into the lavatory where his wrists and ankles were shackled. He said: "They hit me many times, saying why are you resisting us. I could not breathe. I was nearly unconscious and made a big noise and they came and opened the door. One of the men then said 'you must pay us one million dollars'."

He added: "I hardly had any sleep that night because I kept finding holes in my head where they had hit me with the butt of the gun."

Having been held for six days at the hideout, he was released after agreeing to pay a ransom of $500,000, around £325,000, with a further sum to be paid at a later date.

But his ordeal took a further twist when in January this year he was kidnapped by the three gangsters and Alexander Ivanov at knifepoint after failing to pay the whole original ransom.

He was driven to a house in Woodford Green, Essex, and ordered to hand over $1.9m. But the police foiled the plan after swooping on a vehicle containing the alleged gangsters.

Prosecuting John Williams told the court Mr Agadjanov had taken Polaroid photographs of his injuries which matched the account of his kidnapping ordeals.

Agafonov, Spodin and Sarkisan, of no fixed address in this country, deny two charges of kidnapping, two of blackmail, and two of false imprisonment, while Ivanov denies kidnap, false imprisonment and blackmail.

The trial continues.

August 7, 2001 10:29