Three jailed after kidnap, torture and blackmail of man

On April 11, 2019, the victim - a man in his 30s - was approached by three men disguised as police officers and was falsely arrested. 

The kidnappers placed the victim into the back of a black Audi before driving him to a back street in Gorton where they dragged him out from the car, put a hood over his head, a gun to his head and put him in a van which drove to a building in the area. 

Shaun Freeman, aged 30, Delroy Chin, aged 47, and Micah Walfall, aged 40, committed the crimes working alongside five other men. 

The victim was held for 13 hours and was "brutally tortured" by Walfall, Ben Ukaegbu, Nicky Barnes, Daniel Lowe and Michael Etuhu with weapons including a blowtorch and a taser, as well as being threatened with an imitation firearm. 

Micah Walfall (Image: GMP) The group contacted various members of the victim’s family and demanded a ransom which they eventually demanded be delivered to an address in Birmingham. 

Those that had left the lockup were rounded up in the following weeks and months - other than Walfall who had fled the country and was eventually tracked down in Spain. 

The investigation identified that in the preceding weeks a tracker had been deployed on the underside of the victim’s vehicle by Chin. He had been lured to the Parrs Wood Centre by Freeman to eat at Nando’s.

Freeman, Chin and Walfall have now been sentenced.

Freeman, of Rosshill Walk, Manchester, was jailed for nine years and Chin, of Woodstock, Billing Road, Northampton, was jailed for 11 years. 

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Both were found guilty following a trial at Manchester Crown Court in April this year.

Walfall, of Pen Court, Northampton, was sentenced to 11 years and three months after pleading guilty to conspiracy to kidnap at an earlier court appearance. 

At a previous hearing on January 10, 2020, Nicky Barnes, aged 32, of Greenwood Road, Northampton was jailed for 12 years after pleading guilty to conspiracy to kidnap and conspiracy to blackmail.

Daniel Lowe, aged 32, of Byfield Road, Northampton was jailed for 10 years and six months after pleading guilty to conspiracy to kidnap and conspiracy to blackmail.

Michael Etuhu, aged 40, of Leftbank, Manchester was jailed for 10 years and two months after pleading guilty to conspiracy to kidnap and conspiracy to blackmail.

A screenshot from the CCTV showing the victim being kidnapped (Image: GMP) Ben Ukaegbu, aged 43, of Windy Ridge, Northampton was jailed for 11 years and three months after pleading guilty to conspiracy to kidnap and conspiracy to blackmail. 

A 35-year-old man was also sentenced after pleading guilty to conspiracy to kidnap and conspiracy to blackmail. He has since been released from prison.

Detective Sergeant Mark Evans of GMP's Major Incident Team said: “This was a lengthy investigation and I am pleased that today we have concluded proceedings by locking up the final three members involved in this plot.

“Freeman was a friend of the victim, regularly playing football with him. As well as luring the victim to the Parrswood Centre, he also recorded the vehicle registration of the victim in his mobile phone, along with the names of the victim’s family members.

“He sourced the lockup used to hold the victim and met with the kidnap team in the days before the actual kidnap, travelling in convoy with their vehicles from the lockup where the victim would eventually be held on a visit to a pub in Alderley Edge, which was set up as the original drop location for the ransom money. 

“We hope this provides some closure for the victim and their family and they can finally move forward with their lives. I would like to thank them for their patience and assistance with this investigation.”