Man Threatened To Kill Victims, Send Remains To Parents, Gets Sentenced

Jack Crocker, a 22-year-old man from Port Tennant, Swansea in the U.K. was awarded a 13 year extended sentence, including eight years in custody and five years on license for kidnapping and intimidating students on Nov. 18. He was also disqualified from driving for 100 months.

Crocker broke into the victims’ shared house in Port Tennant area of the city, late at night, threatened to chop them off into pieces and would send their remains to their parents, WalesOnline reported. He then drove them around while making a series of threats.

Crocker told the court he was under the influence of alcohol, the night the incident took place and he did not remember anything.

Ian Wright, the prosecutor, said the defendant’s reply after being warned was, “When I drink gin I don’t know what I’m doing." He further said Crocker made various horrifying statements about cutting the victims into pieces and sending the remains to their parents.

According to the statement given by the victims, Crocker’s behavior was described as “unpredictable.” The victims also said they could not return to their home because they felt unsafe, thus, chose to stay with their parents while continuing their studies.

Swansea Crown Court was told, one of the victim’s was playing computer game in his room when he heard of some noise coming from downstairs. He thought some of the housemates had come and went to check the same, only to find Crocker in the kitchen.

Meanwhile, another housemate came in the kitchen, prompting the intruder to whip out his Stanley-type knife from his pocket. Crocker then started waving the knife around the victims.

Crocker, after punching one of the victims several times on his face, pulled the students into a car, which belonged to one of the students, and started driving it around the city. He also warned the victims that he was carrying a gun and would shoot them.

The court further was told, the perpetrator was stuck on one street while driving and began to blow the horn continuously. Hearing the continuous noise, a passerby stopped and asked him if everything was alright.

Crocker warned his hostages to remain silent and told the man everything was fine. Once the concerned man left, he turned to his passengers and said, “To show this is real, shall we go and kill him?" referring to the gun he was previously talking about.

Crocker continued to drive before ramming the vehicle into a parked car. He then got off the vehicle and started cleaning his fingerprints off the steering with a sock. Unable to switch the car on again, Crocker asked them to get out of the vehicle.

Crocker and the victims started walking down a lane, which was a shortcut to reach the students' shared house. During the walk, the victims got an opportunity and managed to escape following which they flagged down a passing car and asked for help. They later contacted police. Crocker initially tried to follow the victims, but, by then the students had already escaped.

Crocker had accepted the charges of possession of a bladed article, aggravated burglary, aggravated vehicle taking, and driving while prohibited and two other counts of kidnapping.

Andrew Evans, attorney for Crocker, said it was clear the defendant was “immature in the extreme” and was obsessed with cars. He added that Crocker has a two-year-old daughter and the imprisonment would make her miss out on many precious moments of her life.

However, Judge Keith Thomas said, the victims suffered a long-term trauma because of the “terrifying ordeal” Crocker had subjected them to and an extended sentence was necessary to secure the public from such incidents.

The court was also told Crocker had several previous convictions and he was out of jail on license.