Smirking gang members jailed after cops uncover kidnap plot

A group of four men from Harrogate and Ripon have been jailed for a combined total of 25 years and 11 months after kidnapping a man and stealing £70,000.

On Monday (April 8) the court heard how the four men had been involved in a gang rivalry between two organised crime groups operating in North Yorkshire .

Rivers Lee Wilson, aged 23, of St Johns Walk, Bridlington, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit robbery and conspiracy to possess a prohibited weapon. He has been jailed for 10 years and two months.

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William Fuller McMillan, aged 24, of HMP Hull , pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit robbery and Possession of a prohibited weapon. He has been jailed for 10 years and eight months.

William Henley Davy, aged 20, of HMP Hull , pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit robbery. He has been jailed for three years and six months. Philip Dean Wilson aged 45, of Nora Avenue, Knaresborough , pleaded guilty to assisting an offender. He has been jailed for 19 months.

Between Friday, January 6 and Monday, January 9 2023, officers from the Organised Crime Unit in North Yorkshire Police carried out an investigation into a suspected organised crime group that was active in the Harrogate area.

Police established that Rivers Wilson and Fuller McMillan were preparing to kidnap a man and extort him for money, believing that he had a large amount of cash stashed in two addresses in Harrogate. Police believe Wilson and McMillan were planning to use force against the victim, using items including a pair of pliers.

Wilson, McMillan, Wilson and two other gang members located and took the victim using force, while William Davy attended the two addresses and recovered cash from where the victim had stored it. Philip Wilson allowed his vehicle to be used to kidnap the victim and commit the offence, and also arranged for his vehicle to be destroyed in order to destroy any forensic evidence.

After Davy had recovered the cash, thought to be around £70,000, the victim was released. The police investigation also found evidence to show that Rivers Wilson and Fuller McMillan subsequently and unknowingly at the time had robbed a rival Organised Crime Group from West Yorkshire.

Further intelligence led officers to believe that Rivers Wilson, Fuller McMillan and another gang member were arranging to source a sawn-off shotgun and live ammunition. They then jointly sourced the firearm and ammunition in order to scare those who sought retribution having had their cash stolen by the gang.

A police helicopter (NPAS) was deployed and used to track the gang as they were travelling with the firearm and live ammunition and believed they were getting their ‘crew’ together in readiness to confront the rival gang.

At this point, armed response officers actioned a hard stop of one of the vehicles and detained three members of the gang, which included Rivers Wilson and McMillan, and recovered both their vehicles. Rivers Wilson, McMillan and another gang member were ordered to get out of the vehicle at gunpoint and were arrested on suspicion of conspiring to kidnap.

Both of their vehicles were forensically examined, and a long package was recovered in the back seat of Fuller McMillan’s vehicle. Examination of this package showed that it contained a sawn-off shotgun, with four live shotgun cartridges.

The shotgun was heavily wrapped in a bin bag and paper. In a further search, seven more shotgun cartridges were found wrapped in a balaclava within a boxing glove in the vehicle.

Detective Constable Helen Quaife, from North Yorkshire Police’s Serious and Organised Crime Unit , said: “We have seen nationally how the use of weapons used by feuding gang members can devastate families and communities. This type of crime will not be tolerated in North Yorkshire. The sawn-off shotgun was viable and along with its ammunition was intended to be used.

“This investigation was conducted meticulously with a large number of enquiries conducted dealing with witnesses, forensics, CCTV and specialist expert evidence. “The sentences imposed on these gang members illustrates just how serious these offences are taken. I hope this will be a warning to others who think the use of weapons will be tolerated within our communities. We will intervene, and people will be punished, to keep our communities safe.”

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