When a man ended up seriously injured after plunging from a moving van on a busy road with his hands bound together detectives faced a race against time to track down the dangerous criminals behind this terrifying crime.
The dramatic and unusual incident, on the Coast Road in Wallsend, sparked a huge kidnap probe, which led to a dangerous police chase, and five violent offenders eventually being locked up for a total of more than 44 years.
After Mason Schubeler, Ricky Fidler, Reece Speirs, Harri Pearce and Laura Watson were sentenced, the detective who lead the investigation has lifted the lid on the bizarre case.
READ MORE: Chilling CCTV shows moment Coast Road kidnappers buy cable ties and padlock at B&Q
And Det Insp Katie Smith, of Northumbria Police, has revealed how despite finding out who was responsible for the terrifying kidnap plot, she may never know why they did it.
She said: "We don't know why this has happened. We still don't know the full circumstances as to why and what was the reason for it. "The victims have never said and the suspects have never said, so we might never know what's behind it.
"But no matter what it was we won't tolerate this level of violence. We will do everything we can to put offenders of this nature in prison. It doesn't matter why it happened, for us it was a matter of identifying them and making sure they were dealt with."
It was a warm summer's evening when police received a call that a man had fallen from a moving white van on a slip road off the Coast Road in front of a row of shops in Wallsend.
When officers arrived at the scene, at around 7.30pm on Friday July 1, they found a 34-year-old man, who police are referring to as Victim One, had suffered serious injuries.
Det Insp Smith said it was clear immediately that this was going to be an unusual investigation.
"It came in not long after 7.30pm on July 1 last year. We had a call into the control room that a young guy had either fallen out or been pushed out of a van," she said.
"Police attended the area and found Victim One had been cabled-tied to his hands. The cable-tie had been cut off by a member of the public who we still haven't identified.
"The victim was in quite a nasty condition. It was very very unusual. It's not something that would be a normal job in this area. It was very very strange."
The Victim was taken to the Royal Victoria Infirmary and the investigation got underway.
With the victim in critical care in hospital police had no way of speaking to him to find out what had happened.
Det Insp Smith explained it was a case of working backwards to find out how the man had came to be in this van.
And officers quickly discovered that the man had been forced into the van after being threatened with bats and knives at a house in the East Howdon area of Wallsend.
"Victim One was in hospital in a critical condition and was taken to the RVI, he went into critical care and was treated for his injuries," Det Insp Smith explained.
"With Victim One in hospital it was quite challenging as we weren't able to speak to him
"We had to identify the van and establish where it had been, where it had come from, and who was in the van, and then work backwards. It was a long hard slog.
"It was established to be a white Mercedes van. From witnesses and CCTV we we tracked back and found it had been at a home address on Chatton Street in East Howdon, which is where the incident happened
"The offenders were believed to have come into a house in Chatton Street and with knives and bats and demanded money."
The van used in the offence was found burned out in the Meadow Well area of North Shields, and the property on Chatton Street became a crime scene, where police found a crucial piece of evidence.
Det Insp Smith said: "We had a scene in Chatton Street, we secured that and within that scene was a plastic bag with a barcode on."
Detectives established that the bag had contained cable ties that had been bought from the Wallsend B&Q store, which is right next door to Northumbria Police's headquarters on Middle Engine Lane.
"That led our inquiry to B&Q where we were able to identify Mason Schubeler and Ricky Fidler buying cable ties and a padlock. They came to B&Q in a van and bought cable ties at 5.45pm that Friday," Det Insp Smith said.
"We then had them going to Chatton Street at around 6pm."
It was not until the Saturday lunchtime that police discovered there had in fact been another victim of the kidnap, who police are referring to as 'Victim Two' two victims of the kidnap.
"On Saturday lunchtime we got a call from Victim Two saying he was also a victim of kidnap and he was concerned for his friend. And that's when we realised there were two victims," said Det Insp Smith. "They said four males burst into the house armed with bats and machetes, bundled them into a van and travelled around the North Shields and Wallsend area.
"Victim One and Victim Two were both put into the van and four males were in that van for a period of time."
But Victim One had noticed the back door of the van was unlocked, and attempted to escape as it moved, a decision that could have cost him his life.
"Victim One was able to make good his escape and that's when he fell out on the Coast Road and suffered severe injuries.
"It was sheer luck more than anything that there was not more serious injuries caused to him. Thankfully he has made a full recovery. It could have been a lot worse. He could have died..
"It was busy, it was 7.30pm, it's a busy road. It could have been a lot worse.
"The other victim was still in the van, and that's when the fifth suspect, Laura Watson, comes into play.
"They go to an unknown address where Laura Watson meets them. Victim Two then gets into another car, they go back to Chatton Street to clean up, but they haven't clean-up that well because they left that bag from the cable ties.
"Victim Two was taken to another location and then let go."
Meanwhile Mason Schubeler, who was on an electronically monitored curfew tag in connection with another offence, had returned home in time for his curfew.
Ricky Fidler went into Newcastle and stayed at a hotel overnight. But by the morning police closed in on him, and when he attempted to get away from them he sparked a highly dangerous police pursuit.
"He left the hotel the following morning and came into Wallsend. The vehicle he was in was know to us and that's when a pursuit ensued," Det Insp Smith explained.
"He drove around the Wallsend area erratically. It was horrendous driving by Ricky Fidler, which resulted in the pursuit being abandoned when he went the wrong way on the Coast Road.
"This was between 9am and 10am on the Saturday morning. Thankfully no one was hurt, but that could have been fatal."
Watson, 46, Pearce, 21, of Meldon Close, Wallsend, Speirs, 23, of Norham Road, North Shields, and Schubeler, 20, of Marondale Avenue, Walker, Newcastle, all pleaded guilty to kidnap.
While Fidler, 20, of Victoria Court, West Moor, Newcastle, admitted kidnap and dangerous driving.
Det Insp Smith has condemned the kidnappers for their terrifying crimes, which left the victims traumatised and put innocent members of the public at risk.
"It's something that very rarely happens around here. It's very unusual, the level of violence is very unusual. That's why it was so important for us to have a thorough investigation and bring some justice to the victims," she said. "It was horrendous, it was absolutely terrifying. Four males burst into your house armed with bats and knives and tie their wrists together and bundle them into a van.
"They were working together and it was clearly planned. They knew Schubeler had to be back for his tag, they went to B&Q to buy the cable ties and padlock and they have arrived with bats and knives.
"But the fact that he came out of the van? I'm not sure that was part of the plan.
"What makes it even worse is it may have been something that was isolated between this group of individuals, but then it put other members of the community at risk. They put innocent people in danger, the pursuit was absolutely horrific on that Saturday morning. We could have had a number of fatalities on the Coast Road, families going to drop their children off at football or swimming would have been on the road.
"Both victims have been very very brave throughout this entire process. They have been so brave in supporting the prosecution to get these offenders convicted.
"Thanks to the team we had on it, the hours spent trawling through CCTV and the tenacity they had we built such a good case they pleaded guilty.
"It was a really important job, it needed that level of investigation and that level of commitment."
"It was through house-to-house and CCTV, that old fashioned detective work, painstaking enquiries tracking it back and having that timeline and getting everything to fit together.
"There were a lot of things we were able to piece together to build this case around them."
"The victims have made a full recovery, thankfully. But it could have been a lot different.
"There is frustrations in your own mind around what lies beneath it, but for me it's about making sure we get the right result, putting violent offenders in prison and getting that result for the communities by getting these people off the streets."
Schubeler, of Marondale Avenue, Walker, also appeared to be sentenced for conspiracy to supply cocaine; Speirs was also sentenced for assault occasioning actual bodily harm; Fidler was also sentenced for dangerous driving; and Pearce was also sentenced for assault occasioning actual bodily harm, causing serious injury by dangerous driving, and aggravated burglary.
Schubeler was given 11 years and nine months in a young offender's institution.
Fidler was jailed for 10 years and banned from driving for nine years and six months - he must also undertake an extended re-test if he wants his licence back.
Speirs was jailed for seven years and four months.
Pearce was jailed for 12 years and eight months and was banned from driving for 11 years and nine months - he must also undertake an extended re-test if he wants his licence back.
Watson was jailed for 25 months.
Read next:
