Man jailed over kidnap

A north Wales gunman who held a family hostage in their caravan home for four hours has been jailed for six years.

Carwyn Jones, 43, bound and gagged Gerallt Walker from Ruthin and drove him to an isolated mountain where he threatened to kill him.

In the middle of the night you broke into a caravan where a family were sleeping and you terrorised them with a firearm

Judge John Rogers QC

The 41-year-old victim managed to escape by diving head first over a fence and hiding in a tunnel.

Mr Jones from Bala admitted kidnapping Mr Walker, making a threat to kill him, false imprisonment and possessing a firearm with intent to commit an offence of kidnapping.

Mold Crown Court heard how the defendant dressed in camouflage clothing, put a gun in a holster and a knife in a sheath and burst into the victim's home last September.

It was claimed the incident occurred because Mr Jones wrongly believed that his friend Dewi Roberts, who had committed suicide, had been murdered by a number of men.

This was a violent investigation and interrogation of this victim over some imaginary conspiracy to kill his friend

Simon Mintz defence barrister

He decided to kidnap Mr Walker in order to see if he knew anything about it.

Judge John Rogers QC told the defendant that he had committed a very serious crime.

"In the middle of the night you broke into a caravan where a family were sleeping and you terrorised them with a firearm.

"You forced Mr Walker to be detained against his will in the caravan and made terrifying threats to kill him.

Armed officers

"Mr Walker and his family must have been terrified when you, a stranger, broke into their home," he said.

Carwyn Jones was arrested by armed officers at his home after Mr Walker raised the alarm at a nearby farmhouse.

His barrister, Simon Mintz, said his client had certain delusional ideas but he now accepted that he should leave investigations to the police.

"The defendant's own son had noticed a deterioration in his mental health in the preceding months when he displayed erratic behaviour and was obsessed with Dewi Roberts' death.

"This was a violent investigation and interrogation of this victim over some imaginary conspiracy to kill his friend," he said.

Another charge of false imprisonment of Tracey Roberts, Mr Walker's partner, which Mr Jones denied, was allowed to remain on file.