Mr Fritchley, for father-of-three Dawson, said his client was “thoroughly ashamed of his actions”.
“He will do his time in a decent manner.
“He wants to get his head down and get back to his children.”
The barrister said the kidnapping “sounds like something from The Sopranos”, the 1990s TV show based on an Italian-American mafia head based in New Jersey.
He added: “We accept it was a kidnap.
“He would tell him to get into the boot and he did so out of fear.”
However, the kidnappings were “short-lived” and did not include asking for funds for his release, Mr Fritchley said.
“It was more like a humiliation than anything else,” he added.
