Kidnapper Jade Bowden jailed as gang's savage plot exposed
The last member of a five-strong gang behind a terrifying kidnap in south-east London has finally been locked up. Jade Bowden, 27, with no fixed address, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to kidnap at Woolwich Crown Court and was sentenced to three years and nine months in prison.
Brutal kidnap at knifepoint
It all went down at 11.45pm on April 19, 2017, when a 22-year-old man was snatched at knifepoint in Plumstead. The gang wrongly blamed him for swiping £30,000 to £40,000 worth of crack cocaine and heroin from a drugs stash house in the area.
Bowden admitted driving the car that transported the victim to a remote spot in Southfleet, Kent, where the nightmare escalated. The man was beaten, tortured, robbed, and stabbed in isolated farmland well past midnight.
Air ambulance exposes gang – victim escapes
By sheer luck, the Kent, Sussex, and Surrey Air Ambulance was flying overhead, testing its searchlights before an unrelated call nearby. The kidnappers panicked, mistaking the chopper for police, and fled.
The horror victim seized the chance to run into the darkness and get help. He was rushed to hospital with serious stab wounds to his hands and remains in recovery.
Police crack the case, drugs factory uncovered
Met Police detectives uncovered a drugs factory in Plumstead along with a large stash of crack cocaine during their probe. They tracked down Bowden and the four other men by analyzing their communications and movements between London and Kent.
The five offenders were sentenced between December 2017 and January 2018, with Bowden finally sentenced in September 2018. One more man was also arrested for perverting the course of justice.
Detective Constable Andrew Payne said: “This latest and final conviction closes what has been an exhaustive and challenging investigation into an organised crime group, who committed a vicious and sustained attack on the victim.
“It was a brutal attack committed in an isolated field in the Kent countryside. Lengthy custodial sentences have been imposed, totalling over 40 years.
“I wish to praise the Crown Prosecution Service, trial counsel and the extended investigation team for the significant work that was done in this complex investigation.”
