THE Fenland agent of a Lincolnshire MP has been jailed for plotting to kidnap his brother-in-law.

Craig Jackson, of Wharf Street, Sutton Bridge, was one of five people jailed for conspiring to kidnap Lawrence Marshall.

The 40-year-old is an agent for South Holland and Deepings MP John Hayes and a researcher for international development under-secretary Stephen O'Brien MP.

Jackson - who devised the plot after discovering that his brother-in-law had racked up large gambling debts with loan sharks - was jailed for two years and eight months after admitting conspiracy to kidnap.

Andrew Sayer, 40, of Moons Green, Moulton, Lincolnshire, and Ian Barnes, 40, of Cloudesley Road, St Leonards on Sea, Sussex, were also jailed for two years and eight months after admitting the same offence.

Jackson's sister and wife of Mr Lawrence Angela Skeels, 37, of Crown Lodge in Holbeach Clough, and Gina Page, 47, of Estuary Close, in Kings Lynn, were both jailed for six months after admitting conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

Lincoln Crown Court heard that Mr Marshall was attacked and bundled into his own car by Jackson, Sayer and Barnes after visiting his wife, Skeels, at her home.

Mr Marshall escaped by jumping out of the moving car as it approached Peterborough. He was later treated for bruising.

When police began to investigate the incident, Skeels and her friend Page gave Jackson a false alibi.

The court heard that Jackson, a former South Holland district councillor, was remorseful and that the prison sentence would destroy his career.