Traveller’s site blackmailer gets 15 years

A gang member who threatened to shoot ‘two dudes in the head’ if a £300,000 ransom was not paid has been jailed for fifteen years.

The brothers were blindfolded and warned they would have their brains splattered ‘all over the road’ while held at the controversial caravan site at Smithy Fen, Cambridgeshire.

The pair, who cannot be named, were fed sleeping tablets, were made to wash with Dettol spray and forced to call their relatives to get the money for their release in July 2020.

Darren McClean, 37, was convicted by a jury of two charges of conspiracy to blackmail and one of conspiracy to falsely imprison in January after a trial lasting more than two months at Wood Green Crown Court.

McLean had shouted ‘this is bulls–t’ adding: ‘This court is corrupt to the backbone, the decision was wrong’ when the verdict was announced.

Lawrence Henderson, defending, said: ‘[The victim] was permitted food, drink, access to a telephone.

‘It would appear from the evidence that any use of weapons was complete by the time [one of the victims] became subject to false imprisonment.

He added:’Mr McLean says he is not an angel. We acknowledge that it is more marked than that.’

Sentencing today Judge John Dodd told McLean: ‘You are a committed career criminal’

Judge Dodd acknowledged that McLean had been acting under the directions of others, as he believed one of the victims had access to large amounts of money.

‘That does not excuse your conduct which was appalling, but it does provide some context for events that would otherwise be inexplicable,’ the judge said.

‘The full truth relating to the events of July 2020 has not emerged, and is unlikely to do so now.

‘I am satisfied that the two victims were forced to take sedative drugs and were stripped naked of their own clothes’

‘I am satisfied that you brandished a handgun at various points’

‘You were content to humiliate both victims

Judge Dodd noted that both victims were threatened, and their family was called, making them fear for their lives.

‘You can be heard threatening to shoot both men in the head, and to splatter their brains over the road if your demands were not met.’

‘Your behaviour was cruel and vicious.

‘This was a well-planned blackmail operation in which you played a key part, albeit under direction from others who have so far escaped justice.’

McLean was also sentenced for theft of an electric bicycle in November 2021, assaulting a PC and being in possession of a prohibited firearm and ammunition in May 2022, all whilst on bail.

The court heard that he shouted homophobic abuse at a PC.

Quincy Bramble, 33, was earlier cleared of two charges of conspiracy to falsely imprison and two of conspiracy to blackmail.

McLean was also cleared of one count of conspiracy to falsely imprison while both McLean and Bramble were also cleared of two charges of kidnap.

Danny Bridges, 41, Mark Kavanagh, 34, and Lisa Marie Finnerty, 39, were cleared of two counts of conspiracy to falsely imprison and two of conspiracy to blackmail, between 7 and 17 July 2020.

Gang boss Cornelius Price, 40, originally from Gormanstown, Co Meath, Ireland, was too ill to stand trial with his five alleged associates after he suffered a brain injury.

Price is still in a coma and is unlikely to recover.

Anne Whyte KC, prosecuting, earlier told how the brothers were driven to a flat in Highbury Hill, near Arsenal football stadium, on 8 July 2020 in a hired BMW car.

One of the victims said they believed they were meeting someone to pay a debt of £7,500 they owed to a man called Warren Crossan, who was shot dead in Belfast in June 2020.

One of the brothers believed the debt had been passed to a man who called him from an unknown number.

‘Some of the men in the flat were armed,’ said Mr Whyte.

‘McLean was wearing jogging bottoms, a jacket and a facemask. The victim could see a handgun in McLean’s waistband.

‘Inside the flat, McLean spoke to the victims. Then, without warning, four or five black men “stormed” into the room. They were all armed with knives or bladed weapons.’

‘The victims were pushed to the floor and told not to move. Mobile phones and wallets were taken from them

‘Between them they were carrying over £2,000 in cash. The car keys to the BMW were also taken.’

The victims’ hands were bound with by parcel tape and they were led from the flat.

Darren McLean,
 

‘They were then held against their will at different locations and blackmailed,’ Ms Whyte said.

‘During this time they were both held against their will. On occasion, they were threatened with weapons, bound and blindfolded.’

They were first held for a number of hours in a fenced or caged area in a disused warehouse, where they were warned not to touch anything or else they could be electrocuted.

They were told they owed Crossan £330,000.

Ms Whyte said: ‘The victim told the men that he didn’t have £330,000. One of the men shouted for a machete and said that they would have to ‘start taking fingers off’.

‘Soon after being kidnapped in London, they were moved by car to a place called Smithy Fen, a travellers’ site north of Cambridge. There, they were both held captive.

‘Over the days that followed, demands were made for a large sum of money to secure their release. The scale of the demands would vary but were as high as over £300,000 at one stage.

‘Both victims were held captive together at Smithy Fen until 13 July in a room containing furniture and a washing machine.

‘One recalls speaking to someone on the phone with a strong Irish accent. He recalls being further threatened with knives.

At one point McLean bundled one of the victims in the back of an old BMW and drove him to a remote location surrounded by trees.

‘He said that his family owned 50 acres of land and many JCBs. They could use them to dig a hole and throw him in,’ the prosecutor said.

In a recording of a call made to relatives of the victims, McLean says: ‘If you f–k up I’m going to put their brains all over the road okay.

‘If you f–k my people around I’m gonna shoot these two dudes in the head.’

Throughout the ordeal, one of the victims was afraid he would have his finger cut off.

‘He feared that he was about to lose a finger’, said Ms Whyte.

‘On occasion he was called racist names and was threatened with violence on account of his ethnicity.’

The second victim claimed he was driven by McLean from Smithy Fen to London where he was given money and one of his phones and told to go home to help raise more money to secure his brother’s release.

He was held captive at Smithy Fen and demand calls continued.

Ms Whyte said: ‘On 16 July, armed police stopped a yellow Transit van leaving the Smithy Fen site in Cambridgeshire. Darren McLean was the driver.’

Police found one of the victims lying on a mattress in the rear compartment of the van.

‘As police approached the van, McLean discarded the handset and deliberately damaged it, no doubt in an attempt to prevent it being examined.’

In a prepared statement, McLean denied kidnapping the men and said:

‘I was made aware from him that he had been robbed at the beginning of July in London. I was contacted by a mutual friend and asked if I would be able to help them out.

‘I was told to meet them at a flat in London. [One of the victims] knows this address. He informed me that he needed to get money urgently due to a drugs debt.

‘I stayed with them for around four days in total. Neither of them were held against their will. No demands were ever made for money by myself.’

Kavanagh, of Manchester, McClean, of Cottenham, Cambridgeshire, Bridges, also of Stourport-on-Severn, Worcestershire, Finnerty, of Lancashire, Bramble, of Stepney Green, east London and McClean, of Cottenham, Cambridgeshire, all denied two charges of conspiracy to falsely imprison, and two charges of conspiracy to blackmail between 7 and 17 July 2020.

McClean and Bramble alone also denied two charges of kidnap on 8 July 8 2020.

McClean had admitted two charges of driving whilst disqualified in July 2020.