Trial of five suspected of abducting and torturing a Scotsman in the Algarve

Lawyer suspected of kidnap three Scottish customers away from crime
28.03.2012 - 16:31 By Lusa

The lawyer for three men to kidnap a Scotsman in the Algarve now classified the case as an "extreme violence", but said that his constituents "have nothing to do" with the majority of crimes.

Five suspected of abducting and torturing a Scotsman in the Algarve today began to be tried by the Court of Loulé, in a session marked by the absence of the victim, since the reporting process for future memory. The defendants are accused of an attempted murder, aggravated kidnapping, grand theft, qualified offense to physical integrity, rape, criminal conspiracy, aggravated drug trafficking and criminal association for the purpose of trafficking. "For my constituents, you will see that they have nothing to do with most of the crimes for which are pronounced, "said Carlos Alves Melo told reporters on the sidelines of the session. According to one lawyer, who defends the three defendants confessed to having been present in the kidnapping of James Ross, but deny the charges related to the most serious crimes. According to indictment, the alleged leader of the group, Steven Johnson, devised a plan to attract the Scots to Portugal, who was abducted on the day he landed at the airport in Faro, October 5, 2010. Ross was then taken to a villa in St. Portela Faustino, near Boliqueime, where he was tied up, beaten, sodomized with a stick and a victim of partial amputation of an ear, fingers and toes and burns. According to the indictment, the ringleader of the group planned to kill James Ross, throwing the inside of a car to the Santa Clara Dam, Alentejo, but the plan will have been unsuccessful. However, after about fifteen days in captivity, the Scots managed to free himself on the morning of October 20, 2010 and asked help a man who passed away. The defendants are all British, are between 25 and 54 years and some lived in Portugal. The trial continues this afternoon and the next two days.

It makes my blood boil to read about such abject cruelty, and by Brits to a fellow Brit

That is Torture. You cant wrap that up any other way. Sadistic barstewards.

It was to do with drugs and money, nothing very high-minded, sadly.

We covered this on our old site, Sadie.

The whole investigation into his disappearance was a complete shambles....



http://thesun.mobi/thescottishsun/news/3193445/Reservoir-drugs-house-search.html?mob=1

THE house where Scot James Ross was tortured in a Reservoir Dogs-style attack in Portugal is finally being searched by cops.

Detectives had to wait days for a judge to allow them to begin scouring the Algarve villa — where they believe the dad of one was held for 13 days before his horror ordeal — for clues.

Ross, 26, lost an ear, finger and two toes in the attack, said to be at the hands of a British drugs gang.

Two officers from Portugal's Scientific Police Laboratory yesterday spent several hours inside the property in the village of Boliqueime. A police source said: "We could not enter the house until we had a warrant from a judge. Every inch of the grounds will be searched."

Ross's ordeal was said to have been sparked by a £10,000 drug debt. He was reportedly lured to Portugal with the promise of a job on a cannabis farm, then kidnapped. The bloodied dad was found staggering in a village street on Monday. Cops found the mansion where he was held next day. He is still said to be under armed guard in hospital in Lisbon.

Last night his wife Donna, 26, of Wick, Caithness, was being looked after by Northern Constabulary officers. Friends of the couple refused to speak about the terror ordeal. One said: "I won't say anything. Everyone is scared to say anything."

Four men aged 20 to 50 have been arrested and are being held in Portugal. They are John McLean, from Manchester, Terrence Macgurk and Ronnie Rose from the Midlands, and Calum McLeod, of the Western Isles

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The police were taken aback when he came tottering into town bleeding profusely; they had decided he must be dead......

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/2010/10/22/torture-victim-scot-s-wife-tells-of-mutilation-ordeal-at-hands-of-kidnappers-86908-22650986/

Quote:

At the time, detectives were convinced Ross, from Wick, had been murdered. And they were stunned when he was found alive and bleeding in Alfontes, near Loule, on Monday

Oh, it all comes back to me now:



The Serious Organised Crime Agency was called in to work with Portugal's Policia Judiciaria after Donna, whose phone was monitored, was told her husband was being kept in a cage in woods.
The caller, whose voice was said to have been IDENTIFIED, claimed the captive's legs, arms, feet, ankles and ribs had been broken.
The number was traced to a phone box near Lisbon as a race against time to find the victim was launched — codenamed Operation Aniseed. Police were convinced the voice was that of gangland suspect John McLean — and began to identify others thought to be involved in the kidnap.
A burnt-out Mercedes linked to them was pulled from an Algarve reservoir.
Police feared Mr Ross had been killed but frogmen searched in vain for his corpse.


Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3189864/Reservoir-Dogs-Brit-James-Rosss-torture-hell.html#ixzz1qUluHjOl


The torched car convinced the police he was dead - all that was missing was a yapping spaniel.

Thankyou Bonny

This is all new to me. Awful stuff.