Six month hostage claim doesn't look so unlikely anymore...

Back in 2010 Blood and Property reported a case of a 67-year-old man claiming to have been held hostage in his flat for six months.

At the time the allegation appeared highly unlikely.

Whether or not the claim was ever true it doesn't sound so extraordinary after these cases:
a) September 2011 police raided a traveller site in Leighton Buzzard leading to a case described in court as the first ‘quasi-slavery trial in this country for over 200 years'.
b) November 2013 three women believed to have been held as slaves for 30 years.
c) January 2014 Sheffield family jailed over slave beatings 

The 2010 allegations in Hackney were thought to be a case of visitors refusing to leave a man's flat. The police charged the suspects for burglary, not for holding a man hostage but a statement from Hackney Police said: "The victim has been spoken to and does not wish the suspect to be arrested. A first instance harassment warning has been issued and if the suspect re-attends the address, then he may be arrested for harassment."

George Galloway: Bradford vs Bethnal Green (UPDATED again)

Held hostage for 6 months?

A charity shop on Kingsland Road reported a burglary. The items stolen were spotted for sale at that peculiar 'market' on Kingsland road on Saturdays. The police were called. The police arrested the alleged burglars and visited the address they claimed to be their home. Here they found a 67-year-old man who, I've been told, claimed to have been held hostage by the alleged burglars for as long as six months.

Well something odd was going on but may be not a six month hostage situation.

A statement from Hackney Police said: "On June 17, 2010 police were called by a support worker to the home of the victim, a 67 year old man, to do a welfare check. The victim made an allegation of common assault against a 46 year old man who was living with him. Police have fully investigated this allegation and have also spoken to the victim's care worker. As a result of this incident, the locks of the victim's home have been changed and nobody other than him is now living at the address. The victim has been spoken to and does not wish the suspect to be arrested. A first instance harrassment warning has been issued and if the suspect re-attends the address, then he may be arrested for harrassment."

The 46-year-old man in question was also charged with burglary.

Blood and Property has heard that the 'hostage' victim may have had a habit of inviting random folk into his home and then being unable to get rid of them. There's no real moral to the story except that the life of Hackney police officer can get pretty complex even when nothing much has happened. Which reminds me I've yet to write up a court hearing featuring Dr Seray Wurie which should win a prize for surreal pointlessness.

Hackney Vietnamese drug dealer kidnapped and murdered

Surrey Today reports that another man has been jailed for his involvement in the murder of a Vietnamese drug dealer who lived in South Hackney until his kidnap and murder in 2008.

Four men were sentenced to life for his murder and one for manslaughter in November 2009. Yesterday a sixth man, Hung Mai, 27, was sentenced to nine years, also for manslaughter.

According to court reports, Khach Nguyen, a 36-year-old father of three, was kidnapped from Hackney where he lived. He and his driver were taken to an isolated farm in Surrey where they were beaten and held to ransom before being released back in Hackney.

However Nguyen's injuries were so serious that he died later on the same day.

The alleged reason for his kidnap and murder was over £30,000 worth of cannabis that Nguyen was selling in Sutton but which, a court was told, had been stolen at gunpoint by another gang.

In 2009, Surrey Today reported on the murder trial: "Prosecutor Victor Temple QC said: "These six defendants were members of a well-organised criminal concern that specialised in large sale supply of cannabis."

"Mr Nguyen and his chauffeur Phuc Tran were the go-betweens in a drug deal due to take place near a McDonalds in Sutton. But they were held at gunpoint and robbed of the haul worth £30,000.

"Mr Temple said: "These six defendants, together with three or four others all came to the conclusion that Khach Nguyen and Phuc Tran had stolen or had arranged for others to steal £30,000 of cannabis belonging to their organisation.

"Both men were kidnapped and driven to a remote farmhouse building in Surrey."

Two Surrey Today reports: November 2009, murder trial and July 2010, manslaughter trial

One from the Hackney Gazette: August 2008

London kidnappings: 5 per week for the last three years

Below are the borough by borough figures for 2009 (1st Jan to 10th Dec):

Newham 34
Lambeth 22
Greenwich 19
Southwark 18
Redbridge 16
Tower Hamlets 16
Lewisham 15
Waltham Forest 15
Barking & Dagenham 14
Haringey 13
Croydon 12
Enfield 12
Hillingdon 11
Harrow 10
Bexley 9
Hammersmith & Fulham 8
Bromley 8
Hackney 8
Havering 8
Brent 7
W'minster 7
Camden 6
Islington 5
Wandsworth 5
Sutton 4
Kingston 3
Barnet 3
Hounslow 2
Merton 2
Richmond 1
Heathrow 1
Ealing 1
Kensington & Chelsea 0
Total 315

The reason for this freedom of information request:

Kidnapping in London is not new: The Independent in 2005: London has a kidnap everyday and more detail in the Guardian, also 2005: A Kidnap a day by foreign gangs in London.

According to the Guardian in 2005: "In as many as 80% of cases, armed officers storm the kidnappers' stronghold and rescue the victim. But bringing the kidnappers to justice is difficult, often because victims are too frightened to testify. The prosecution rate for kidnap is just 20%, although many perpetrators are jailed for related offences."

The piece said: "Kidnapping is particularly prevalent in the Chinese, Afro-Caribbean, south Asian and eastern European communities, where extreme violence and torture is common, often over relatively small amounts of money."

But you don't hear about it very often. This story from 2006 is the only one I could find in which the police had been able to prosecute despite hostages refusing to cooperate - there may well be more. Back then Detective Superintendent Alan Pughsley, from the Met's Kidnap Unit, said: "This is a prime example of a difficult prosecution where the hostages did not support the police. These kidnappers are dangerous individuals from criminal networks who are highly likely to commit these offences again. It is therefore vital that all is done to prosecute and convict these individuals."

The average annual figure of 240 kidnaps per year (both in 2007 and 2008 - with 2009 likely to be similar) means that there have been about 20 kidnaps a month in London - nearly five a week - for the last three years. In the light of Pughsley's 2006 comment that these kidnappers are "highly likely to commit these offences again" and the figures from 2005, the problem is not getting any better.

Recent concerns about a likely surge in organised crime around the sex industry in Olympic boroughs could see current levels increase. Is prostitution soaring in Hackney, who are the customers?

So how many of these kidnappings are carried out by 'professional' kidnappers? Is that what is going on in Newham?

If hostages don't cooperate is it because they are also involved in organised crime? Or is it, as the Guardian piece suggests, that the hostages do not cooperate because they fear reprisals from the kidnappers.

Another question is how much police time is spent dealing with kidnappings and is the problem starting to become more mainstream?

Offences like this recent high profile kidnapping look like the work of people who had done something similar before.

Does this sound like something a random set of inexperienced people would decide to do? "On the day of the rescue the victims' clothes were removed, they were showered, dressed in bin bags and walked to a waiting vehicle which was also cleaned."

As DI Steve Wagstaff of the Met's kidnap unit said: "That is not an act of people who plan to release victims back to their lives, but only the people involved know what was going to happen."

The hostages in the example above did cooperate but how had their kidnappers developed their technique? Has the failure to prosecute led to the evolution of experienced kidnappers? How many of these 240 kidnaps per year are carried out by the same people? Many of these crimes may be completely unrelated to this issue but it would be interesting to know what proportion of them are the work of organised kidnappers. That question has not been answered here.

(Newham and other kidnap stories: 23 hour kidnap ordeal, kidnap gran jailed, kidnap and cannabis factory, Vietnamese drug/gang/kidnap story from 2005, Dec 2009 surge in 'Honour' crimes including kidnap)


Police response:

The police said: "These figures represent alleged kidnappings reported to the borough from 1/1/2009 - 10/12/2009. Following investigation these allegations may be re-classified. The borough where a report of kidnap is made does not necessarily indicate that it is the borough where the person was kidnapped. Equally, the location of the kidnap does not indicate that this is the same area where people are being held. These may involve different boroughs or even different police force areas."

The above figures were supplied on Friday 11 December. On November 11 2009 the police replied to these questions:

1. The number of kidnaps that occur annually in London.

The MPS response is: In 2007 there were 390 incidents which were initially reported as a kidnap prior to any investigation taking place to ascertain the fuller details. Of these 240 remained as a kidnap or attempted kidnap.
In 2008, 377 were reported and 240 remained as kidnaps.
In 2009, to date (03/11/2009) 325 have been reported and 213 have remained as kidnaps.

2. The number of these kidnaps that involve armed police.

The MPS response is: It is not practicable to answer this question, in order to retrieve this information it would require a detailed review of each report (of the 693 reports) in an attempt to establish if there was any participation by a firearms unit. For example the involvement, if any, of a firearms unit may take many forms from the provision of advice to being deployed to an area to an armed entry into a premises.

3. And the number of kidnaps that occur annually in which the hostages do not cooperate with the police.

There is no information held on this category. I question whether it is in the best interests of justice and future investigations to address this issue. There can be many reasons for not wishing to take an investigation further. These may include family pressure, personal reasons, not wishing to attract publicity or trauma linked to the event.


4. Which boroughs have the highest incidence of this kind of crime?

The borough where a report of kidnap is made does not necessarily indicate that it is the borough where the person was kidnapped. Equally, the location of the kidnap does not indicate that this is the same area where people are being held. These may involve different boroughs or even different police force areas.

With a modern transient population people move for work and domestic reasons and great caution must be exercised when attaching such data to an offence type.

With the above caveat regarding its relevance and accuracy, on a purely statistical basis, the most initial reports of a kidnap in 2009 have originated in Newham Borough.

We are unable to supply the information for 2007 or 2008, as the way information was recorded prior to 2009 it did not include borough codes and therefore we would need to perform a review of each report (of the 480 reports) to be able to ascertain this information. This would be an extremely time consuming and not a cost efficient use of resources.

Kidnap freedom of information request

Is it true that London's armed police spend a lot of time rescuing gangsters who have been kidnapped by rivals? Does this happen more than once a week? And when it happens do the hostages refuse to testify against the hostage takers?

The problem does exist despite this being the only example I could find (a story from 2006 when the police managed a prosecution despite the hostages refusing to testify against their kidnappers.)

Detective Inspector Steve Wagstaff, from the Metropolitan Police Kidnap Unit, said:

"I would commend the work and effort put into this investigation by DC Cath Jenkin who was able to persist with the investigation despite the victims and hostages being uncooperative.

"The benefit to future investigations is that a precedent has now been set where the police will succeed in taking robust action against such offenders even when their victims are unable to offer positive support."

At the time Detective Superintendent Alan Pughsley, from Metropolitan Police Kidnap Unit, said:

"This is a prime example of a difficult prosecution where the hostages did not support the police. These kidnappers are dangerous individuals from criminal networks who are highly likely to commit these offences again. It is therefore vital that all is done to prosecute and convict these individuals."

His words: "These kidnappers are dangerous individuals from criminal networks who are highly likely to commit these offences again," suggest that this was not a one off incident.

So the question is whether the most dangerous and fairly frequent work carried out by armed police is rescuing drug dealers?

Hopefully an answer will be in the post on 2 November but judging by the response to this FOI request, there appear to be lots of reasons why this information will not be provided:

Freedom of Information Request Reference No: 2009090001397

I respond in connection with your request for information dated 06/09/2009, which was received by the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) on 07/09/2009. I note you seek access to the following information:

1. The number of kidnaps that occur annually in London.
2. The number of these kidnaps that involve armed police.
3. And the number of kidnaps that occur annually in which the hostages do not cooperate with the police.
4. Which boroughs have the highest incidence of this kind of crime?
Could I get the information I asked for on kidnapping in London in relation to the last five years? If there is a problem providing information going back this far, three years would be fine. Any thing that could show whether or not kidnapping offences that I am asking about are increasing or decreasing in number.

Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act), we have 20 working days to respond to a request for information unless we are considering whether the information requested is covered by one of the 'qualified exemptions' (exemptions which must be tested against the public interest before deciding whether they apply to the information in question).

Where we are considering the public interest test against the application of relevant qualified exemptions, Section 17(2)(b) provides that we can extend the 20 day deadline.

Where
a) in relation to any request for information, a public authority is, as respects any information, relying on a claim that any provision of Part II which relates to the duty to confirm or deny and is not specified in section 2(3) is relevant to the request, or ii) that the information is exempt information only by virtue of a provision not specified in section 2(3), and b) at the time when the notice under subsection (1) is given to the applicant, the public authority (or, in a case falling within section 66(3) or (4), the responsible authority) has not yet reached a decision as to the application of subsection (1)(b) or (2)(b) of section 2, the notice under subsection (1) must indicate that no decision as to the application of that provision has yet been reached and must contain an estimate of the date by which the authority expects that such a decision will have been reached.

I am sorry to inform you that we have not been able to complete our response to your request by the original deadline, as we are currently considering whether 'qualified exemptions' apply to the information you have requested. As a result we will not be able to respond within 20 working days.

For your information we are considering the following exemption(s):
Section 30 - Investigations and proceedings conducted by the public authorities
Section 31 - Law enforcement
Section 38 - Health and Safety
Section 40 - Personal information
Section 41 - Information provided in confidence
Section 44 - Prohibitions on disclosure

I can now advise you that the amended date for a response is 02/11/2009.

It would be nice to know if this is a real issue. At the moment it is even unclear whether armed police are patrolling Hackney or not - a couple of Hackney councillor websites carry a denial from Hackney's police chief.

The claim was made in the wake of feud between Turkish drugs gangs. According to this piece in the Guardian: The gang shootings that put police with machine guns on London streets - a number of non-Turkish Hackney gangs are already involved in the violence.

Is kidnapping becoming more common?

Was this story in the Hackney Gazette nearly one of them? "They were shouting at me to take them inside the flat, but when I just kept screaming they ran off with my keys and my mobile phone."

Recent kidnapping involving armed police and a kidnapper from Hackney: Stoke Newington gang member guilty of kidnapping friend of Lily Allen.

This kidnap story (bbc version) saw a friend of Lily Allen taken hostage. It included a comment from an officer in the Kidnap Unit. One of the suspects in the organised kidnap gang was arrested in Hackney.

Or this Southall story.

Otherwise there doesn't seem to be much about this subject anywhere. All I could find was this brief interview which had a promising start: "I'm a detective sergeant in charge of an Alpha Team, (Armed Kidnap Team) in Surveillance" but provided very little else of interest. It was in a police newsletter back in 2006.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/11/13/bill-dispute-builder-in-kidnap-plot-115875-21818111/


Newham Kidnap stories:

Story 1 Rival kidnapped and stripped
Story 2 Vigilanties kidnap teenager
Story 3 Kidnappers win sentence appeal

Hackney
Story 4
Story 5
Story 6 Estate agent kidnaps her boss

Story 7