‘Travellers made me wear their clothes’
A kidnap victim told a court how he was locked inside the back of a van, blindfolded, stripped and made to wear his captors’ clothes.
Two brothers were threatened with bullets to the head and having their fingers sliced off as they were held at a caravan site at Smithy Fen, Cambridgeshire, jurors have heard.
Danny Bridges, 41, Mark Kavanagh, 34, Darren McClean, 37, Quincy Jarron Bramble, 33, and Lisa Marie Finnerty, 39, are part of a gang accused of the blackmail plot.
They were fed sleeping tablets, made to wash with Dettol spray and forced to call their relatives trying to get the money for their release, Wood Green Crown Court has heard.
The second brother was taken to London and released on 13 July 2020.
His sibling was continuing his evidence via video-link today as Lawrence Henderson, defending McClean, said: ‘During your stay at the caravan site I suggest there were no threats made to you at all.
‘At no time during your visit to London or at your stay at the caravan site was any handgun or firearm produced?’
The witness replied to both questions: ‘That’s incorrect.’
Mr Henderson said: ‘At no time when you were on the telephone, to whoever it was, were you told what to say by a man you called “Large Irish”’
The witness again replied: ‘That’s incorrect.’
Mr Henderson: ‘I suggest you were becoming paranoid and anxious about being found at that caravan site by your brother’s friends or associates, were you paranoid or anxious?’
Witness: ‘No, I was paranoid and anxious about being held captive, not about anyone trying to find me.’
Mr Henderson: ‘And it’s you who deliberately broke that phone and threw it into the footwell because you were scared that phone would be used to find you, wasn’t it?’
Witness: ‘I was on the mattress with a duvet on top of me. The back of the van was closed, there was no chance of me throwing the phone, I told the police when I was found I heard them smashing a phone up so there was no way I could’ve put that in front of the van.
‘It was completely closed off as far as I can remember, there was a divider between the back seats, and it was the back of the van where I was kept.’
Prosecutor Anne Whyte asked the man: ‘Can you look at the [jury booklet] again, can well all go to page 107, it has the yellow van in the middle of the page, on the top right of the page, who is that?’
‘That’s Big Irish,’ the witness replied
‘And bottom left, is that you on the mattress?’ the prosecutor asked
‘Yes, that’s me,’ he replied
‘Can you look to the picture, right of that, when you were referring to a cage and then you said well not a cage, do you see that there is a grill?’ Ms Whyte continued
‘Yes’ replied the witness.
‘Is that what you might have been referring to?’ asked the prosecutor
‘Yes,’ he replied
Judge John Dodd KC then asked the witness: ‘What about your clothes, you’ve told us they’ve been taken off at some point?’
The witness replied: ‘They were the kidnappers’ clothes.’
‘Was there anyone else in the van?’ asked the judge
‘No, no one else was ever in the back of the van with me,’ the witness replied.
‘Did anyone ever say “Hey come and hop in the front seat on the ride down to London”’ the judge asked
‘I had to lie down on the mattress there, I had a blindfold over my eyes, so I couldn’t see’ replied the man.
Earlier his other brother told how he was released on 13 July 2020 and taken to London.
He travelled from Euston Station to Stoke-on-Trent and was taken into a hotel room by police.
The witness told jurors he misled the gang and his brother into thinking he had been trying to raise funds, when he was in a hotel room with police who were recording the call.
The brother claims he made various calls to family and friends in a bid to raise money for the ransom for his brother’s release.
Armed police intercepted a yellow Transit van, driven by McLean, leaving the Fen Site on 16 July, and found the other brother lying on a mattress in the back.
Kavanagh, of Manchester, McClean, of Cottenham, Cambridgeshire, Bridges, also of Stourport-on-Severn, Finnerty, of Lancashire, Bramble, of Stepney Green, east London, all deny two charges of conspiracy to falsely imprison and two of conspiracy to kidnap, between 7 and 17 July 2020.
McClean and Bramble alone also deny two charges of kidnap on 8 July 2020.
Gang boss Cornelius Price, 40, originally from Gormanstown, Co Meath, Ireland, was due to stand trial with his five alleged associates, but is too ill to stand trial due to a brain injury.
The trial continues.
