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22
Jan
'Brazen gangsters' jailed for kidnapping man on streets of Harrogate
Two thugs who kidnapped an innocent man on the streets of Harrogate have been jailed after a judge said they acted like “brazen gangsters”.
Michael Balog, 24, and Liam Edmondson, 28, were driving around Jennyfields in a black Land Rover “looking for someone” who purportedly owed them money, York Crown Court heard.
Balog, the driver, stopped the vehicle when they spotted a man they thought was the debtor and Edmondson got out of the Land Rover, said prosecutor Kelly Clarke.
Edmondson headed straight for the named man and threw him to the ground. He shouted, “Where’s the money?”, then dragged him over to a grassy area where he threw him down again, before dragging him back to the Land Rover where Balog was waiting at the wheel.
CCTV footage of the incident then showed Edmondson pushing the terrified victim against the car, before forcing him into the vehicle through the open back door.
Edmondson then got in the vehicle which was driven off by Balog at speed as horrified witnesses looked on.
One of the witnesses noted the vehicle’s registration plate and the Land Rover was soon found by police who arrested Balog and Edmondson after they, together with the innocent victim, had tried to run away.
“Where’s the money?”
Ms Clarke said the victim, a completely innocent man who didn’t know and had never had any dealings with the kidnappers, was too scared to give police a statement because he was “extremely fearful of reprisals”.
She said it was about 4pm on October 7 last year when passers-by noticed the Land Rover driving around Jennyfields as if the occupants were “looking for someone”.
A local barbershop owner saw Edmondson get out of the vehicle and walk up to the unsuspecting victim, shouting: “Where’s the money?”
He then forced him to the ground, before dragging him to a grassed area where he stood over him, shouting: “I want my money.”
He then dragged him over to the Land Rover where the victim was either forced in, or was so scared he got into the vehicle himself under duress.
Witnesses described the victim as “looking horrified”. One of them noted the vehicle’s registration plate and contacted police.
Officers in multiple police cars went looking for the Land Rover and soon found the vehicle, just as the two kidnappers and the victim were getting out of the car.
All three men started running away but the victim stopped as police caught up with him. He told officers he had no idea why the two men had kidnapped him and that when they had him in the car, they were calling him by someone else’s name.
York Crown Court
Edmondson and Balog, both currently of no fixed address, were duly arrested and charged with kidnap. Edmondson was also charged with assaulting the victim.
They ultimately admitted the offences and appeared for sentence via video link today (January 22) after being remanded in custody.
Ms Clarke said that Edmondson had 24 previous offences on his record including drug possession, criminal damage, assaulting a police officer and affray, the latter resulting in a prison sentence in 2020.
His record also included assault occasioning actual bodily harm, driving matters and dangerous driving, the latter of which also resulted in a jail sentence.
Balog, formerly of Kennion Road, Harrogate, had a rap sheet which included burglaries, theft, handling stolen goods, possession with intent to supply crack cocaine and aggravated vehicle-taking.
In 2019 he was jailed for burglary with intent to steal and, in 2023, he received a 22-month prison sentence for another burglary.
In the latter burglary, Balog, originally from the Czech Republic, was on an immigration tag when he raided a Harrogate couple’s semi-detached home while they slept. He then drove off with the husband’s Land Rover after stealing the keys but was later caught red-handed thanks to a tracking device the victim had connected to his vehicle.
Defence barrister Susannah Proctor, for Edmondson, said that her client had mental-health problems at the time but was now in a stable relationship.
Character references from those close to him described him as an otherwise “kind and sensitive man”.
Ms Proctor said that Edmondson had successfully undergone drug-testing in prison where he was an “avid gym user”.
Jeremy Barton, for Balog, said his client, a former supermarket worker, had become embroiled in criminality following the death of his father, which led to him getting in with the wrong crowd.
‘Acting like thugs and gangsters’
Judge Sean Morris told the defendants:
You two acted like young thugs and gangsters. You were fearless; you were driving around and clearly looking for someone. As it happened, you got the wrong target.
Mr Morris said he had no doubt that the motive for the kidnap was a criminal one, namely money owed by someone.
“One of you (Balog) has previous convictions for (drug-dealing), so who knows what the motive was, but it wouldn’t have been a normal debt,” added the judge.
He said that both men were equally culpable as Balog had seen the violence taking place, adding:
It is the kind of criminality that the public are becoming increasingly concerned about. Brazen, fearless, as if you owned the streets.
The judge said it was thanks to the quick thinking of witnesses and the fast response by police that the vehicle was stopped and it was a short-lived in incident, otherwise “heaven knows what would have happened”.
Mr Morris added:
Your victim was so terrified of reprisals he refused to co-operate with police.
The reason we don’t know the level of harm to your victim is because he’s too scared to talk about it.
He added:
You both now have acquired a serious criminal record with all the hallmarks of blatant and serious thuggery. The streets do not belong to criminals.”
Balog and Edmondson were each jailed for 15 months but will only serve about half of that sentence behind bars before being released on prison licence.
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