A trusting guy would have been kidnapped and robbed of his life savings by a young woman who put up a honey-trap plot, but she avoided going to jail.
On a dating website, 23-year-old Gemma Frost persuaded Christopher Stanley to become her victim before requesting a loan of $210.
Upon discovering Mr. Stanley had life savings, Frost then devised a honey-trap conspiracy with two unidentified guys to kidnap and rob him.
Two masked guys approached the vehicle in a residential Cardiff neighbourhood as she was scheduled to pick up Mr. Stanley for a face-to-face encounter, threatening to kill him.
Mr. Stanley was only able to escape his attackers uninjured after frantically jumping out of the car and tumbling to the ground.
Frost admitted her involvement in the horrifying attempted robbery and was given an 18-month sentence with a suspended prison term at Cardiff Crown Court.
The court was told after meeting Mr. Stanley online, Frost initially requested a loan of £210 from him before suggesting a meeting when she learned he had savings.
He got into the front passenger seat of the car when she offered to pick him up for their 7 o’clock date.
Two guys later approached her car as it was traveling down Cardiff’s congested Manor Way, according to prosecutor David Pugh.
She [Frost] turned to him and said, “They look dodgy,” he testified before the court.
One was donning a surgical mask and a dressing robe with the hood up.
The other person had a piece of fabric covering his neck and was dressed in a tracksuit with the hood up.
“Ms Frost steered to the kerb and stopped beside those two individuals and turned the engine off,” the victim recalls.
The two then swung open the automobile door and yelled at him to get in the car. We’re going to kill you and injure you.
They seized the victim and attempted to force him towards the back, Mr. Pugh said.
The guy was able to flee the car by breaking free.
He temporarily fell to the ground while doing so but managed to get away.
After getting into the car, the two men sped off.
“Very shaken” was how Mr. Stanley was described.
Following the kidnapping scheme in June 2020, Cardiff Crown Court was informed that CCTV evidence led the car back to her house, where she was later detained.
Frost, of Rogerstone, Newport, entered a guilty plea to kidnapping conspiracy.
She claimed to be “in a terrible moment in her life” and to be “hanging around with older people who have serious criminal history.”
She claimed that after learning that the victim had lent her money, the two older men forced her to take part in the robbery because she was too terrified and intimidated to say no.
Josh Scouller, a defense attorney, claimed that his client was “at a low ebb” in her life, dependent on cocaine, and surrounded by people who used stronger drugs.
He claimed that although the victim and defendant had a “genuine” relationship, the two older men took advantage of her.
The lawyer claimed that Frost was ashamed of her actions and helped to look after her grandmother, whose life would be negatively impacted if she were to be imprisoned.
“You purposefully put your victim in a position where he would be forced to give money by your associates who you knew to be serious criminals,” Recorder Paul Hobson said.
“You should feel utterly ashamed of that,” I said. It’s not because of you that he was able to survive this terrifying experience relatively unscathed.
Frost received a sentence of 18 months in jail, with the last 18 months suspended.
Additionally, she had to complete 150 hours of unpaid work over the course of 15 days as part of a rehabilitative activity requirement.