Dudley man one of four jailed for role in kidnap that saw victim stabbed and dumped in street

Modestas Stoskus of Hawthorne Road in Wren's Nest has been jailed for his role in the incident that saw him meet the victims before driving them to a secluded road in an industrial site where the other defendants, who had travelled from different parts of the country, were waiting. The victims were not expecting any trouble when the incident happened on December 13, 2022.

When Stoskus, 32, parked up the doors were opened and the victims pepper-sprayed in the eyes, dragged out of the car and set upon with bats and knives in Chesterton near Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire.

They were then bound with tape and interrogated before being put into the boots of two cars which were then driven away.

One of the victims, who suffered bruising to his head, face and shoulder managed to break out during the journey and fled to a house where the occupants called the police.

The other victim barely survived after suffering a stab wound to his right thigh, a deep cut to his shoulder, a broken leg and a broken arm after being dumped in a residential street in Stoke-on-Trent still tied up. He required surgery for his fractures, treatment for sepsis and kidney failure, before being admitted to intensive care where he remained for seven weeks.

Stoskus, 32, of Dudley, and Mohammed Nasar, 40, of Marine Drive, Birmingham, pleaded guilty to the same offences as each other at the start of a trial in July last year.

Stoskus was handed 13 years and six months for inflicting grievous bodily harm (GBH) with intent involving one of the victims, and given concurrent sentences of 11 years and eight months for kidnapping the same victim, seven years and two months for kidnapping the second victim, 13 months for assaulting the second victim, 16 months for possession of a knife and 35 weeks for possession of a baseball bat.

Nasar was jailed for 12 years and seven months for GBH with intent involving one of the victims, and given concurrent sentences of 11 years and eight months for kidnapping the same victim, seven years and two months for kidnapping the second victim, 13 months for assaulting the second victim, 16 months for possession of a knife and 35 weeks for possession of a baseball bat.

Co-defendants Egidijus Savickas, 29, of Worcester Road, Bootle, Merseyside, and Dovydas Smilginis, 34, who is from London but of no fixed address, were found guilty of two counts of kidnapping, causing grievous bodily harm with intent, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, having an article with a blade or point and having an offensive weapon following a trial at the same court in September last year.

They were both handed 14 years' imprisonment for GBH with intent involving one of the victims, and given concurrent sentences of 13 years for kidnapping the same victim, eight years for kidnapping the second victim, 15 months for assaulting the second victim, 18 months for possession of a knife and nine months for possession of a baseball bat.

The four were arrested between December 2022 and February 2023. All were sentenced at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court on Tuesday.

Detective Inspector Ian Fitzgerald, of the major investigations department at Staffordshire Police, said: "This was a brutal pre-planned attack, with all four men having a role. They trussed and bound the victims, savagely attacked them with weapons, bundled them into car boots and drove them away to be dumped. One of the victims was nearly killed and spent a few months recovering in hospital.

"Thankfully, this type of crime is very rare in Staffordshire. Today’s sentencing will hopefully send out a strong message that this sort of criminality has no place on our streets."