Police have released the first image of Tianfu Guo, who was last week found guilty of kidnapping a businessman from a Hertfordshire golf course.

The 35-year-old was found guilty of conspiracy to kidnap and conspiracy to blackmail at St Albans Crown Court on Friday (April 19), but was found not guilty of conspiracy to possess an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.

Now, after a lengthy trial and investigation, Herts police have released a first image of Guo to the public.

The jury heard that at around 4.10pm on Tuesday, October 24 last year, the victim was playing golf when he was approached by a group of men who pointed a pistol at him and bundled him into a black Audi Q7.

The victim was taken to a holiday home that his captors had rented in Surrey, and placed inside a cage that was so small he could not stand up or stretch his legs out.

Welwyn Hatfield Times: Guo was found guilty of St Albans Crown Court.Guo was found guilty of St Albans Crown Court. (Image: Herts police)

He was not allowed to use the toilet and he was only allowed to eat a small amount of food.

Guo was located in Chinatown, London, where he was arrested at 9.41pm on October 25. An SD card which was recovered from the 35-year-old's vehicle showed surveillance video footage of the victim.

An hour after Guo's arrest, the victim was led to a vehicle and driven for around 90 minutes to Cobham in Surrey, where he knocked on the front door of the closest house he could find and asked for help. The resident helped him to call a taxi to get back home.

Aided in court by a Mandarin interpreter, Guo had told the jury he was visiting the UK for around three months and "was just a tourist".

The court also heard that six other suspects were "believed to all be back in China".