[F]our people have today (Thursday December 21st) been sentenced to over 44 years for their part in the kidnap of a man from Preston and trying to blackmail his brother.
Luke Anderson, 25, of Samuel Street, Preston was sentenced 12 years imprisonment; Stephen Helm, 35, of no fixed address was jailed for 12 years; Aaron Hampson, 27, of Mansfield Crescent, Nelson was handed a 12 year sentence and Jordan Fowler, 21, of Marlborough Drive, Walton Le Dale was jailed for eight years and four months for conspiracy to kidnap and conspiracy to blackmail.
Christopher Darragh, 50, of Princess Street, Preston was handed a six month jail term for perverting the course of justice after providing false information to the police about the car used during the kidnap.
The 15 hour ordeal started on Wednesday, January 25th at around 8pm when the victim, a 36 year old Preston man, was beaten, had his hands tied behind his back with cable ties and bundled into the boot of a silver Lexus car by Anderson, Hampson, Helm, and Fowler near to his home on Malvern Avenue.
He was then moved on to a remote location at Shutting Fields Lane, Bamber Bridge, where he was threatened further with an axe, beaten and forced to remove his trousers. Fowler went to a nearby shop and bought a SIM card used to contact the victim’s brother to make demands of £100,000 for his release or he would be cut up or drowned.
He was kept in the car boot overnight and was only released at 11:30am the following day when Fowler demanded he get out of the vehicle on Chapel Lane, Houghton before crashing it into another car. He fled the collision across some nearby fields.
Police enquiries identified Fowler from some CCTV footage which led to his arrest, during which he attempted to escape over a roof.
Further investigation exposed the involvement of Hampson, Helm and Anderson who was using the name ‘Blazer’ and other aliases to try and avoid his identity becoming known to authorities.
It was revealed that the Lexus used in the kidnap was sold by Christopher Darragh, but he lied to officers about the circumstances of the sale stating that he had sold it to a man whose details he hadn’t kept. It was in fact Stephen Helm who had purchased the car from Darragh just before the kidnap, which he admitted during a police interview. He was charged with perverting the course of justice.
DS Dave Brooks from Lancashire’s Serious Crime Team said: “I am pleased with the sentences handed to these men who I can only describe as violent thugs.
“Not only did they kidnap this man and physically attack him, they also made threatening calls to his brother making demands for an extortionate amount of money which he would not have been able to pay. I cannot imagine the fear both him and the victim must have felt.
“I hope this case sends a message to those involved in organised criminality that we will find you and put you before the courts to get justice.”
Brett Gerrity for the CPS said: “This gang carried out a premeditated and brutal attack upon a man in an attempt to extort a significant amount of money from him and his family.
“We worked closely with Lancashire police to build a strong case against them leading to two of the men pleading guilty and the other three being found guilty by a jury. This included piecing together telephone evidence which linked all four men to the both the planning of the kidnap and to the site where Mr Umar had been detained in the boot of the car overnight.”
Today’s result follows a five week trial earlier this month at Sessions House, Preston, during which Luke Anderson, Aaron Hampson and Stephen Helm were found guilty. Jordan Fowler and Christopher Darragh admitted their guilt at a previous hearing.
