Kidnapper jailed for throwing woman in his van in 45-minute ordeal

Lee Shiers climbed into the victim’s home through a window before kicking down her bedroom door where she had barricaded herself inside.

Portsmouth Crown Court heard Shiers, of High Lawn Way, Leigh Park, convinced her to go with him outside, before then grabbing her arm outside her Emsworth home and taking her in a van at night on February 24

He drove around ‘ranting and raving’ going to a remote location where she tried to escape.

But Shiers, 30, grabbed the terrified woman in a headlock and threw her in the back of his van.

She suffered bruising to the upper part of her left arm, among other injuries, the court heard.

Jailing Shiers for three years, judge Roger Hetherington said: ‘You and her had been in a relationship for some 18 months. At the time she was some 12 weeks pregnant with your child.

‘Despite all that and her plain wish to have nothing further to do with you, on that night you entered her property by re-breaking and forcing a rear window.’

The woman had locked herself away, the judge said, adding: ‘When you arrived outside the bedroom door and kicked it in, and that in itself must have been an extremely frightening experience.’

Shiers grabbed her by the arm when they were outside, putting her in the van. The court heard he was not violent to her before this on the night.

The judge added: ‘Grabbing her by the arm and putting her in a headlock, you took her to your van where you then drove her to a remote spot. On more than one occasion she tried to escape.

‘You followed her, got hold of her again, looked for something to tie her up with but unable to find that, you threw her in the back of the van.

‘She said that in itself caused her some injury, there being tools or such like in back of the van.

‘She was only released when you saw a police vehicle, although it may be at that stage you were on your way back and were going to drop her off at her own home. But the whole episode took some 45 to 50 minutes.

‘It seems that at the time you were under the influence of crack cocaine or some other hard drug.’

The victim said she hoped Shiers got help for his addiction but feared him being released from jail.

Shiers got a 10 per cent discount from a 42-month jail term after pleading guilty on the day of his trial.

Mitigating, James Caldwell said: ‘This is a man perfectly capable of living a law-abiding life. He understands that his conduct on the night was entirely unacceptable.’