Criminal linked to gang boss Cornelius Price found guilty over terrifying £300k blackmail plot

Two brothers were blindfolded and warned they would have their brains splattered 'all over the road' while held at the caravan site at Smithy Fen, Cambridgeshire, England.

The pair, who cannot be named, were fed sleeping tablets, were made to wash with Dettol spray and forced to call their relatives trying to get the money for their release in July 2020, jurors heard.

Irishman Darren McClean, 37, was convicted by the jury of two charges of conspiracy to blackmail and one of conspiracy to falsely imprison.

McLean shouted 'this is bulls--t' adding: 'This court is corrupt to the backbone, the decision was wrong.'

Quincy Bramble, 33, was cleared of two charges of conspiracy to falsely imprison and two of conspiracy to blackmail .

Both McLean and Bramble were also cleared of two charges of kidnap.

The jury had deliberated for just under 40 hours in total.

Judge John Dodd said he will sentence McLean on 10 March.

Danny Bridges, 41, Louth man Mark Kavanagh, 34, and Lisa Marie Finnerty, 39, were earlier cleared of two counts of conspiracy to falsely imprison and two of conspiracy to blackmail, between 7 and 17 July 2020.

Gang boss Cornelius Price, 40, originally from Gormanstown, Co Meath, Ireland, was too ill to stand trial with his five alleged associates after he suffered a brain injury.

Price is still in a coma and is unlikely to recover.

Prosecutor Anne Whyte, KC, had earlier told how the brothers were driven to a flat in Highbury Hill, near Arsenal football stadium, on 8 July 2020 in a hired BMW car.

One of the victims said they believed they were meeting someone to pay a debt of £7,500 they owed to a man called Warren Crossan, who was shot dead in Belfast in June 2020.

One of the brothers believed the debt had been passed to a man who called him from an unknown number.

‘Some of the men in the flat were armed,' said Mr Whyte.

'McLean was wearing jogging bottoms, a jacket and a facemask. The victim could see a handgun in McLean’s waistband.

‘Inside the flat, McLean spoke to the victims. Then, without warning, four or five men “stormed” into the room. They were all armed with knives or bladed weapons.

‘The victims were pushed to the floor and told not to move. Mobile phones and wallets were taken from them

‘Between them they were carrying over £2,000 in cash. The car keys to the BMW were also taken.’

The victims' hands were bound with by parcel tape and they were led from the flat.

‘They were then held against their will at different locations and blackmailed,’ Ms Whyte said.

‘During this time they were both held against their will. On occasion, they were threatened with weapons, bound and blindfolded.’

They were first held for a number of hours in a fenced or caged area in a disused warehouse, where they were warned not to touch anything or else they could be electrocuted.

They were told they owed Crossan £330,000.

Ms Whyte said: 'The victim told the men that he didn’t have £330,000. One of the men shouted for a machete and said that they would have to ‘start taking fingers off’.

‘Soon after being kidnapped in London, they were moved by car to a place called Smithy Fen, a travellers’ site north of Cambridge. There, they were both held captive.

‘Over the days that followed, demands were made for a large sum of money to secure their release. The scale of the demands would vary but were as high as over £300,000 at one stage.

‘Both victims were held captive together at Smithy Fen until 13 July in a room containing furniture and a washing machine.

‘One recalls speaking to someone on the phone with a strong Irish accent. He recalls being further threatened with knives.

At one point McLean bundled one of the victims in the back of an old BMW and drove him to a remote location surrounded by trees.

'He said that his family owned 50 acres of land and many JCBs. They could use them to dig a hole and throw him in,' the prosecutor said.

In a recording of a call made to relatives of the victims, McLean says: 'If you f--k up I'm going to put their brains all over the road okay.

'If you f--k my people around I'm gonna shoot these two dudes in the head.'

Throughout the ordeal, one of the victims was afraid he would have his finger cut off.

'He feared that he was about to lose a finger', said Ms Whyte.

'On occasion he was called racist names and was threatened with violence on account of his ethnicity.'

The second victim claimed he was driven by McLean from Smithy Fen to London where he was given money and one of his phones and told to go home to help raise more money to secure his brother's release.

He was held captive at Smithy Fen and demand calls continued.

Ms Whyte said: ‘On 16 July, armed police stopped a yellow Transit van leaving the Smithy Fen site in Cambridgeshire. Darren McLean was the driver.'

Police found one of the victims lying on a mattress in the rear compartment of the van.

‘As police approached the van, McLean discarded the handset and deliberately damaged it, no doubt in an attempt to prevent it being examined.’

In a prepared statement, McLean denied kidnapping the men and said:

'I was made aware from him that he had been robbed at the beginning of July in London. I was contacted by a mutual friend and asked if I would be able to help them out.

'I was told to meet them at a flat in London. [One of the victims] knows this address. He informed me that he needed to get money urgently due to a drugs debt.

'I stayed with them for around four days in total. Neither of them were held against their will. No demands were ever made for money by myself.'

Kavanagh had accepted that he bought a mobile phone for Cornelius Price to use but denied any involvement in the kidnap plot.

Referring the closing speech given by Nick Barraclough, defending Kavanagh, Judge John Dodd said: 'It is clear that Mr Kavanagh bought the phone and then handed it to Mr Price.'

'He (Barraclough) alerted you to the possibility that he simply bought the phone for Mr Price in ignorance of its intended use.'

Kavanagh, of Manchester, McClean, of Cottenham, Cambridgeshire, Bridges, also of Stourport-on-Severn, Worcestershire, Finnerty, of Lancashire, Bramble, of Stepney Green, east London and McClean, of Cottenham, Cambridgeshire, all denied two charges of conspiracy to falsely imprison, between 7 and 17 July 2020.

McClean and Bramble alone also denied two charges of kidnap on 8 July 8 2020.

McClean had admitted two charges of driving whilst disqualified in July 2020.