Chilling footage of ruthless loan shark forcing man into car boot over £5 cider loan

The chilling moment a vicious loan shark lets a kidnapped man out of his car boot and then orders him back in has been revealed in harrowing CCTV footage.

Cruel Richard Dawson, 35, has been jailed for seven years on Thursday after a court heard how he terrorised a mum and son who owed him money. The pair's dealings with him began after the woman asked to borrow £5 for cider and he told her he would "lend money in the area".

Dawson, of Hill End Close in Barnsley, had interest rates of 100 per cent after one week and 200 per cent after two, and turned violent when the woman's son became involved. Sheffield Crown Court heard how the man became "trapped" and would hand over all of his benefits.

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The woman and her son were relocated by social services, but after interrogating the man, Dawson turned up at their home, attacked them both and then forced the son into his car boot, drove him to a cashpoint and ordered him to withdraw more money.

He told the woman "if she said a f****** word, he would be stabbing her son in the neck," prosecutor Simon Mortimer said. Mr Mortimer added: "It became common to put the man in the boot of the car to get money out."

The court heard following his arrest, a number of items were seized from Dawson's home, including his mobile phone. His and his wife's bank accounts showed evidence of money lending. Recorder Langdale KC said 124 cash credits totalling over £16,000 from 16 different people had been received from Dawson's.

On his wife's account, 106 transfers of over £11,000 were received from 59 people, and 119 payments of over £7,000 had been sent to 35 people. The judge said words such as "loan", "owe", "borrow" and "lend" were found on the accounts. He said there were "at least 88 different customers or people who were being terrorised" by Dawson "into paying off money". He said repayments came to a total of £52,000.

Mr Mortimer said following police interviews with the victims, CCTV enquiries were undertaken and revealed a number of incidents where Dawson, of Hill End Close in Barnsley, let the man out of his boot, took something from him "consistent with bank notes" and then put him back into the boot.

CCTV footage has now been released by the Illegal Money Lending Team [ILMT]. Tony Quigley, head of the ILMT, said: “Today we have seen a vicious, predatory criminal removed from our streets and we hope this sends a message that illegal money lending and associated intimidation tactics will not be tolerated.

“This man is a ruthless and cruel individual who deliberately targeted the most vulnerable people in the community, taking everything they had and leaving them with nothing. He knew they couldn’t fight back and took advantage of that.

"When they struggled to pay, he lashed out, causing serious injuries. They may recover from those physical injuries but the mental torment he caused was enormous and they may never recover from the trauma they suffered at his hands.

"Illegal money lending is a scourge on society; when it is accompanied by monstrous violence and physical intimidation like this it is even worse – and this is something we will not tolerate. The bravery shown by these individuals in coming forward, even though they were terrified of repercussions, is incredible. We can’t thank them enough for that.

“We realise other people may be in a similar position, but we would urge anyone who has any experience of illegal lending to contact us sooner rather than later so that we can take action to keep them safe and help them escape the grip of an illegal lender.”

As he jailed Dawson and made him the subject of restraining orders in respect of the two victims, Recorder Langdale KC said: "It is clear those paying money into bank accounts were the minority. It was a cash-run business so the true amount will never be known...The interest rates were extortionate...Your victims initially refused treatment because they were petrified of you...

"Any right-thinking member of society will be disgusted by the way you treated human beings. You treated them as nothing more than walking cash machines to be used, abused and attacked at will and have their lives destroyed and treated by you as nothing less than human beings."