A TRIO who bundled a man into a car have been told they could face jail.

The three men were due to stand trial for kidnap and assault occasioning bodily harm.

However, at Swindon Crown Court yesterday prosecutor Chris Smythe said the Crown had agreed to let the kidnap charge lie on file.

Instead, the trio pleaded guilty to assaulting their victim in Swindon on June 5 last year. They were said to have bundled the man into a car.

Appearing in the dock, Joshua Bird, 22, of Dydale Road, Swindon, Antonio Rhoden, 18, of Abbey View Road, Swindon, and Keafer Rutland, 22, of Kingston Road, Wimbledon, spoke only to confirm their names and guilty pleas.

Recorder Richard Shepherd ordered pre-sentence reports from the probation service ahead of the sentencing hearing on Friday, October 15, at the crown court. Rhoden, who was 17 at the time of the assault, also stands to be re-sentenced for affray, after he received a 16-month suspended sentence in July for his part in an affray outside Medina nightclub

Mr Shepherd he warned the men they could face jail: “You realise that you have pleaded guilty now to quite a serious offence and the court will consider all options about what to do with you.

“Some of you are more heavily convicted than others. You are of different ages and backgrounds. Therefore, I make no promises about what might happen to you. But you realise there is a real chance you might go to prison or youth detention.”

The men were bailed to appear before Swindon Crown Court on October 15 for sentence.