A TERRIFIED man was dragged off the street before being stripped naked in a dark graveyard after being taken on a 12-mile terror ride.

Keeron McCaffery was the innocent victim in a dispute his attackers had with a friend.

The 23-year-old was hauled into a car in Paisley and brutally beaten leaving him with serious eye injuries.

He had tried to get out the moving motor at one stage on the Erskine Bridge.

Mr McCaffery was eventually dumped in Langfaulds Cemetery in Bearsden and his clothes ripped off him.

He told jurors at the High Court in Glasgow: "I thought I was going to die."

But, Mr McCaffery was spared when one of his assailants appeared to take pity on him and handed him back his jogging bottoms.

He managed to stagger free to a nearby house to raise the alarm.

Two thugs are now behind bars after they were convicted of being involved in the abduction and attempted murder of Mr McCaffery on December 2, 2021.

Jamie Cunningham, 30, and Steven Quill, 37, will be sentenced next month.

Victim Mr McCaffery told how he had been short of cash in the lead-up to Christmas and had been offered £30 to "do a job" for a friend.

He agreed and was due to meet a man in Broomlands Street, Paisley, that night.

Mr McCaffery said he saw who he believed the person to be and went over to speak to him.

But, after a brief chat, he recalled the stranger punching him before a BMW raced up and around four masked assailants leapt out.

They were also wearing blue latex gloves.

Giving evidence behind a screen, Mr McCaffery said: "They were bigger and definitely older. They started kicking and punching while grabbing me into the car.

"I was saying 'you have not got the right person. You have f****d up'."

As the car raced off with Mr McCaffery held hostage, the attackers demanded to know where his friend stayed.

He told prosecutor John McElroy KC: "I was terrified, scared. I thought I was going to die.

"I was put in the back seat - a person at each side of me.

"They were punching the hell out of me. I thought I was going to get stabbed."

As a blade was chillingly waved in front of his face, one of the thugs stated: "You are lucky you are not getting this, wee man".

Mr McCaffery was warned to keep quiet with the gang aware of unsuspecting police behind in a car at one point.

He initially thought he had been "set up". 

Jurors were shown a photo of his bloodied and bruised face that he was forced to snap on his phone and made to send to his friend.

He recalled trying to make a desperate break for freedom

The victim added: "I managed to pull the door open. The door was literally swinging open on the Erskine Bridge.

"I was trying to get people's attention for help. 

"But, they (the gang) were saying: 'You have f*****g had it, wee man. You are done'."

Mr McCaffery remembered hearing the names Jamie and Gorby being uttered during his ordeal. 

Quill was also known as Gorman and had the nickname Gorby.

Mr McCaffery ended up at the cemetery and was yanked out of the BMW.

He said: "They just jumped all over my head - kept battering the hell out of me."

Another car drove up and Mr McCaffery initially thought he could finally get help - but it turned out to be more members of the thug gang.

He said: "They came and said: 'Ha, ha - you are f****d'. They ripped every stitch of clothes off me.

"I was lying on the floor in the scud. One of the boys then said: 'That's a shame, you are taking his dignity away'."

Mr McElroy said: "So, you are lying naked in a graveyard on a December's night at 10pm?"

Mr McCaffery replied: "Just lying there. They gave me one pair of joggers back."

The stricken victim eventually got help before police rushed him to hospital.

The trial was also shown photos of his horror injuries. This included "significant bleeding" around his left eye.

Mr McElroy asked him: "After this incident, how has it affected you?"

He said: "It has changed my life."

He added his eyesight before was "perfect", but is now "terrible". He cannot see without wearing glasses.

The attempted murder charge stated Mr McCaffery was assaulted to his severe injury, permanent disfigurement and impairment as well as to the danger of his life.

Cunningham and Quill had pleaded not guilty to the accusations. 

Quill claimed the only time he had met Mr McCaffery before was at a house in Kirkintilloch, but the victim denied in court knowing him.

Both were remanded as sentencing deferred for reports.