A vigilante attacker from Liverpool was jailed for taping an alleged paedophile into a chair and battering him with a metal table leg.
Barry Jones took a picture of the 65-year-old victim’s battered face and posted it on social media with the word NONCE superimposed over it and a tag saying he looked like The Elephant Man.
He held the terrified man prisoner for nine hours and left him with a broken wrist and two broken eye sockets. He made him promise not to call the police but he was in so much pain that he called an ambulance as soon as he was freed.
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The victim had gone to a party at a flat in Torquay with two women. They had crack cocaine delivered by a 15 year old boy and Jones thought the man had made a sexual comment about the teenager.
It sparked an explosion of violence in which he punched him in the face, dragged him bleeding to a living room where he used gaffer tape to bind him to a chair.
Jones told him: "You’re my hostage for the night" before battering him with the chair leg and threatening to scald him with boiling water and sugar.
He freed the victim from the chair but barricaded him into the room by pushing a wardrobe against the door. He forced him to smoke crack and pushed him into a shower fully clothed to wash off the blood.
He sent pictures of the man’s battered face to his ex-girlfriend and other contacts on social media, along with a message saying ‘I’ve just battered a paedophile’.
Jones, aged 28, originally from Liverpool but now of Wykes Road, Exeter, admitted causing grievous bodily harm with intent and was jailed for four years, four months by Recorder Mr Malcolm Galloway at Exeter Crown Court.
He told him: “This must have been a terrifying experience for the victim to be taped into a chair and told he is a hostage. You sent a photograph of his swollen face and joked about him looking like the Elephant Man.
“There is high culpability due to the length of time he was held and because this was a prolonged and persistent assault. I note the victim’s age.”
Miss Felicity Payne, prosecuting, said the attack took place at the home of two women who the victim visited on February 22. They bought crack cocaine which was delivered in the early hours by a 15-year-old boy.
Jones arrived shortly afterwards and launched the attack after one of the women said she had heard the victim make a sexual remark about the boy.
Miss Payne said the offence was aggravated by the degradation of the victim and him being held for nine hours against his will.
He was in so much pain after leaving the flat that he called an ambulance and was taken to hospital, where doctors called the police. Officers found the picture on his ex-girlfriend’s phone.
Mr Nicolas Gerasimidis, defending, said Jones reacted as he did because he had suffered abuse in his own childhood. The attack was not pre-meditated and was a spontaneous reaction.
The ECHO understands Jones' victim has not been arrested or charged with any offence in relation to the 15 year old boy.
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