UK- Teenagers kidnapped man over rape claim

12-22-2008 United Kingdom:

THREE teenage boys and a 33-year-old man have admitted abducting and abusing a man they believed to be a paedophile.

Paul Montgomery, of Yeomans Close, Tongham, appeared at Guildford Crown Court this week, alongside the three youngsters who cannot be named for legal reasons.

One of the defendants claimed that the man they abducted had raped him. Judge Christopher Critchlow adjourned sentencing and ordered the four defendants to undergo psychiatric assessments.

The three teenagers were a 17-year-old from Guildford, a 17-year-old from Ash and a boy from Aldershot who was 15 at the time of the incident.

The quartet abducted the victim between October 2 and 7 this year. All four defendants admitted falsely imprisoning and assaulting the man.

Montgomery and the 15-year-old boy also pleaded guilty to burgling the victim’s home in Worthing, West Sussex. They took two sets of speakers, a computer, a PlayStation, paperwork, model cars and a black LCD television.

Montgomery admitted further charges of threatening to kill the man, stealing money from his bank account and taking his car. The 15-year-old was also charged with fraud, after he and Montgomery were alleged to have taken the victim’s debit card and used it to steal cash.

When that charge was put to the pair in court, Montgomery shouted: “No, he did not do it. It was me and me alone who took the card and the money. No-one else had anything to do with that.”

Prosecutor Robin Sellers agreed to drop the fraud charge against the boy, but Montgomery admitted the offence. Before the case was adjourned for sentencing, Montgomery asked Judge Critchlow for the opportunity to address him directly.

“There are things I want to be on the record, so that all the people here know,” he told the judge. “Not only am I guilty of these offences that you have said today, but I am also guilty of the emotional and psychological abuse [of the victim].

“It was me who kidnapped that man, but it was me and me alone. The others did not do anything wrong.

“I knew what I was doing when I did it and I knew what was going to happen to me afterwards. To be standing here in court is not a surprise to me.

“What I did was my responsibility, and I cannot take it back now. It was my fault, and mine alone.”

Andrew Turton, defending Montgomery, told the court that since October his client had been admitted to Epsom General Hospital.

“He was admitted because he seriously harmed himself,” Mr Turton added. “He wrote four letters to people including his parents, and to be frank they read like suicide notes.”

Judge Critchlow said the psychiatric assessment of Montgomery should include details of how dangerous he was to members of the public and how likely he was to commit similar offences in the future.

All four were remanded in custody. They will be sentenced at Guildford Crown Court on January 30. ..News Source.. by Joanna Till