A 25-year-old Watford man has gone on trial at the Old Bailey charged with kidnapping and torturing a man to death.

Tuan Pham, 25, of Clarendon Road, is one of six alleged members of a “well-organised” drugs gang accused of kidnapping two middle men after a botched deal and torturing one of them to death at a remote Surrey farmhouse.

The Old Bailey heard on Wednesday that 36-year-old Khach Nguyen died on July 30 last year after enduring “prolonged physical violence”.

The court was told that Mr Nguyen, a Vietnamese national, and his chauffeur Phuc Tran were held up at gun-point as they acted as go-betweens in a drug deal, losing £30,000 worth of cannabis in the process.

Prosecutor Victor Temple QC explained: “Khach Nguyen was told he was responsible for the loss and would have to make it good.

“These six defendants, together with three or four others, all came to the conclusion that Khach Nguyen and Phuc Tran had stolen or had arranged for others to steal cannabis belonging to their organisation.

“Because of their belief, both men were kidnapped. They were put into a car and driven to a remote farmhouse building in Surrey.

“They were subjected to prolonged physical violence and given the opportunity to contact their families by phone in order to raise the required £30,000.

“Such was the severity of the violence that Khach Nguyen died the next day having been taken back to London.”

Mr Pham, Hung Mai, 27, Hoc Kim Khoa, 32, Giang Vu, 21, and Duc Vu, 22 – all of no fixed address – as well as Dunt Dinh, 27, of Plumstead Common Road, South London, all deny murder and two charges of false imprisonment.

The trial continues.