A gang used the home of a drug addict mum to torture and imprison a man for 12 hours after kidnapping him on the street. The victim was taken from outside his house in Blackley, north Manchester, then bundled into a car before bring brought to Jennifer Baker's house.
During a horrifying ordeal he was bound and gagged, had boiling water poured over his genitals and was forced to swallow tablets which he was told contained rat poison. He was warned that he'd be 'gravely injured, if not killed' if he didn't hand over a large amount of cash.
After 12 hours he was able to escape the house, having suffered serious injuries including burns. Members of the gang are due to be sentenced at a later date.
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Baker, 35, who did not take part in the violence, was locked up for 18 months for assisting an offender. A judge was considering sparing her from prison, but in an unusual move, Baker asked to be sent to jail.
She would 'fail' any drug rehabilitation programmes she would be ordered to complete and instead hopes to get clean in prison, Manchester Crown Court heard. Prosecutor Alaric Bassano told how the victim was outside his home at about 7.30pm, on November 12, 2019, when he was overpowered by four men and bundled into a car.
After being taken to Baker's home in Haverfield Road, Blackley, the 30-year-old was punched in the face and dragged around different rooms of the house. The attacks included being struck by a chair, having his head hit against a wall and being kicked.
He was tied to a chair, his hands were bound with cord and his feet were tied together with rope. A sock was forced into his mouth, and fixed in place with Sellotape.
He was brought into the living room and ordered to hand over money. After telling his kidnappers he had no cash, he was attacked again.
Cruel and terrifying punishments ensued, with boiling water being poured on his body including his genitals, and threats were also issued. He was told he was going to be injected with heroin, and that a roll of cling film was going to be forced into his bottom after his trousers had been pulled down.
He was forced to swallow tablets which he was told contained rat poison. Tests later showed they were actually an antidepressant.
Later, he was taken to an upstairs bedroom and 'in panic' he urinated. After 12 hours he was able to escape his captors.
Baker, who was present in the house while the horrifying attack occurred, was arrested and told police the gang had come to her home 'unannounced'. "She should have said no, or at least done something about what was clearly going on," her barrister Ian Metcalfe said.
"That would not, by any stretch of the imagination, be an easy thing to do. The defendant was targeted by others, because of her weaknesses and vulnerability. She was exploited by others."
Mr Metcalfe said her life had been 'blighted' by a 'chronic' drug addiction, and she faced the prospect of becoming homeless due to an 'impending eviction'. Judge Elizabeth Nicholls jailed Baker, after being told that ordering her to complete drug rehabilitation programmes would be setting her up to fail.
Summarising the case, the judge told her: "They used your home to imprison him, to torture him and subject him to degrading and violent treatment. It is right however to indicate you were to a degree as much of a victim as he was.
"The people who came to your address undoubtedly used you, in the sense they knew you would not put up any resistance. It is not as if you invited them. You simply had probably little choice in the matter."
