Brutal kidnappers jailed for 54 years over bats, knives and pepper spray terror drive

Four thugs who brutally kidnapped two men - attacking them with bats, knives and pepper spray - have been jailed for a total of 54 years. The helpless victims were tied up with tape and dumped in the back of cars which were driven away.

One escaped during the journey but the other almost died, police said. The victims and the four attackers had travelled across the country for the meet-up in Newcastle-under-Lyme in December 2022 and the kidnapped men had not been expecting trouble, according to detectives.

They were set upon after meeting one of the thugs, Modestas Stoskus, from Dudley. He drove them to an industrial location away from any witnesses where pepper spray was used on their eyes and they were attacked with the weapons before being thrown into the boots and driven off.

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One escaped during the journey and raised the alarm at a house. He had bruising to his head, face and shoulder. But Staffordshire Police said the other victim barely survived. He was dumped, still bound by duct tape, in a residential street in Stoke-on-Trent in the middle of the night.

A member of the public noticed him in the road and got help. He had extensive bruising to his upper thighs, arms and shoulders, a deep cut to his shoulder, a stab wound to his right thigh, a broken leg and a broken arm. He needed surgery for his fractures and was admitted to intensive care. He was treated for sepsis and kidney failure and spent around six weeks in hospital.

Stoskus and the other three attackers, Egidijus Savickas, Dovydas Smilginis and Mohammed Nasar, were arrested between December 2022 and February 2023. All four were sentenced at Stoke Crown Court today, Tuesday, June 3.

Savickas, 29, of Bootle, Merseyside, and Smilginis, 34, of London, were found guilty of two counts of kidnapping, causing grievous bodily harm with intent, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, having an article with a blade or point and having an offensive weapon following a trial at the same court in September 2023.

They were both jailed for 14 years for GBH with intent involving one of the victims, and given concurrent sentences of 13 years for kidnapping the same victim, eight years for kidnapping the second victim, 15 months for assaulting the second victim, 18 months for possession of a knife and nine months for possession of a baseball bat.

Stoskus, 32, and Mohammed Nasar, 40, from Birmingham, pleaded guilty to the same offences at the start of a trial last July. Stoskus was jailed for 13 years and six months for GBH with intent involving one of the victims, and given concurrent sentences of 11 years and eight months for kidnapping the same victim, seven years and two months for kidnapping the second victim, 13 months for assaulting the second victim, 16 months for possession of a knife and 35 weeks for possession of a baseball bat.

Nasar was jailed for 12 years and seven months for GBH with intent involving one of the victims, and given concurrent sentences of 11 years and eight months for kidnapping the same victim, seven years and two months for kidnapping the second victim, 13 months for assaulting the second victim, 16 months for possession of a knife and 35 weeks for possession of a baseball bat.

Det Insp Ian Fitzgerald, of Staffordshire Police's Major Investigations Department, said: “This was a brutal pre-planned attack, with all four men having a role. They trussed and bound the victims, savagely attacked them with weapons, bundled them into car boots and drove them away to be dumped. One of the victims was nearly killed and spent a few months recovering in hospital.

“Thankfully, this type of crime is very rare in Staffordshire. Today’s sentencing will hopefully send out a strong message that this sort of criminality has no place on our streets.”