Kidnappers dragged a vulnerable man from his flat before beating him up and forcing him to take them to a cash machine, a court has heard. Jey Hughes and "hired muscle" Marcus Williams targeted the man because of his vulnerabilities and used him as a source of money so they could buy drugs.
Sending the pair down, a judge at Swansea Crown Court said they had manhandled, assaulted, exploited, and controlled their victim, and he said he had no doubt the ordeal would have been a terrifying one. He told the defendants that "anyone with a shred of decency" would be ashamed of what they did on the day in question.
The court heard that on May 10 last year the defendants went to the victim's home in Merthyr - Hughes knew the victim and had been to his address on a number of previous occasions. The pair dragged the vulnerable victim from his flat and manhandled him into the lift where they assaulted him. The man was then taken by the arms and forced out of the block and into the town centre. The court heard that as they headed for a cash machine the pair intimidated and controlled the man into walking along the pavement.
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After the victim withdrew money from his account the defendants "let him go" and he made his way back home where staff at the retirement complex saw he had injuries to his eyes and that he was bleeding from his mouth. In total the kidnap ordeal had lasted around 45 minutes. The police were notified, and an investigation was launched with the pair being identified from CCTV footage of the area.
Jey Marie Hughes, 33, of Brecon Road, Merthyr Tydfil, and 47-year-old Marcus Paul Stenner Williams, of Mount Pleasant, Bedlinog, Treharris, had previously been convicted at trial of kidnap when they returned to the dock for sentencing. Hughes had also previously been convicted of battery, a charge Williams pleaded guilty to. For the latest court reports, sign up to our crime newsletter here
Hughes has 19 previous convictions for 23 offences including two batteries, public disorder, and matters of dishonesty. Her last conviction was in February last year when she was given a community order for theft, an offence which saw her defecating in a cupboard while stealing tools from a Merthyr Valleys Homes housing association property. Williams has 33 previous convictions for 102 offences including two unlawful woundings, arson, "numerous burglaries", public disorder, motoring matters, assaulting a police officer, and possession of drugs.
Hywel Davies, for Hughes, said it was accepted a custodial sentence was inevitable in the case and said his mitigation would only go to the length of that sentence. He said they were his instructions that his client began using heroin at the age of 11 as a result of traumatic experiences she was subject to, and he said drug addiction had been a significant factor throughout her life. He said looking at Hughes' antecedent record it could be said that the matter before the court was out of character and represented an escalation in offending.
Christopher Evans, for Williams, said pre-sentence and psychiatric reports detailed the defendant's schizophrenia and his use of drugs, especially amphetamine and crack cocaine. He said such was the defendant's level of paranoia at the time of the offending that during his police interview he came to believe his solicitor was actually a police officer and he was being "stitched up". The barrister said on the prosecution's own case his client had been the "hired muscle" not the instigator of the offending, and he said Williams had become involved in order to get money to feed his addiction.
Recorder Ben Blakemore said he had no doubt Hughes had been the driving force behind the incident, and had targeted and exploited the victim knowing full well of his various vulnerabilities. He said though the victim had been unable to give evidence at the trial he had no doubt it would have been a frightening experience for the man to be dragged from his home, manhandled, threatened, and subjected to violence and then forced and intimidated into accompanying the pair to a cash machine. The recorder told the pair that "anyone with a shred of decency" would be ashamed of what they did that day.
Hughes was sentenced to six years and nine months in prison and Williams to five-and-a-half years in prison. The defendants will serve up to half those sentences in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community. The recorder revoked the community order imposed on Hughes for the theft offence in February 2023 and imposed no separate penalty for that matter.
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