A man kidnapped a teenager walking home after a night out and took her to an industrial estate intending to sexually assault her.
Danny Chen would later claim he was just being "chivalrous" by helping a drunk 19-year-old into his white Audi at 3.30am. But when he drove the victim to a "dark and secluded" spot and tried to get in the back of the car with her, the victim's "survival instinct" kicked in.
She managed to escape and a judge today said he was sure Chen had intended to carry out a sex attack. Liverpool Crown Court heard CCTV footage showed the woman, who the ECHO has chosen not to name, walking home on May 23, 2021.
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Steven Swift, prosecuting, said she had been out in the city centre and the footage showed her "staggering" along Farnworth Street in Kensington. Cameras also captured Chen driving past in his Audi, before he turned around and pulled up alongside the victim.
Mr Swift said: "It was clear she was in no condition to consent to getting into Mr Chen's car." The court heard he took hold of her – she said forcibly by the arm – and got her into the back of his car.
The victim could remember giving Chen directions and telling him she wished to be dropped off at a friend's home. However, Mr Swift said Chen drove past roads and she was "ignored", before he stopped at an "isolated industrial estate".
He said the woman was "concerned about the actions and intentions" of Chen when he tried to get into the back of the car. Mr Swift said: "At this point she started to panic. She managed to push the defendant away, asking 'what are you doing?'"
The victim got out of the car, but realised she had left her handbag on the back seat and returned, only to find it was now in the front, with Chen. She fled and hid behind another vehicle before she phoned a friend and the next morning called police.
Chen used her bank card to buy crisps and a drink from a Texaco garage in Barlow Lane at around 5am. The card was declined when he tried to buy food from McDonald's in Walton Lane at approximately 5.30pm.
Police traced Chen and arrested him at his home in Westminster Road, Walton on June 4. When arrested, he suggested he had picked up a "drunken girl" and tried to take her home but she wouldn't give him correct instructions.
He said eventually when driving around he became "fed up" and asked her to get out. Judge Robert Trevor-Jones said: "Of course that didn't in any way square with the fact he took some three minutes from where he picked her up to where they entered that industrial estate."
The victim's handbag was found in a bin at the back of his home and Chen admitted two counts of fraud, relating to the use of the card. He denied kidnap but after one jury couldn't reach a verdict, a second jury found him guilty at a retrial.
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The victim said she lost out financially, had to replace her driving licence and other cards, and was left struggling to sleep and on antidepressants. Mr Swift said: "As a consequence of this offence she finds herself hyper vigilant when out.
"She said 'I panic when cars pull up near to me, especially white ones like the one the offender drove. I also find myself avoiding the area where the male first got me into his car, despite having friends in the area.'"
Judge Trevor-Jones said an aggravating feature was "she was so drunk it seems she was effectively defenceless". Callum Ross, defending, accepted that was "the main aggravating feature" and she was therefore "vulnerable".
Mr Ross said his client, of previous good character, knew he would be jailed. He said it was a short incident, there wasn't any evidence of "any method of restraint" or use of violence or weapons, and he suggested it was "opportunistic" rather than premeditated.
The court heard Chen previously worked as a fraud investigator for a high street bank. Mr Ross said: "He has for all of his life prior to this offending contributed positively and productively to society."
He said Chen was assessed by the Probation Service as "an intelligent and articulate man". He said he was "a man who, though he still maintains his innocence, does entirely accept the verdict of the jury".
Mr Ross said Chen even "speculated" that if he had been on the jury, he would have convicted himself, which the lawyer suggested showed "some level" of "reflection". Mr Ross said: "He states his main regret from these proceedings is that the complainant has had to go through giving evidence twice in this case."
Judge Trevor-Jones said he was "quite sure" Chen was "driving around" not because he was going to McDonald's – as he claimed at trial – but "either looking for someone to attack or to steal from". He said the victim was "obviously" drunk because she could "barely walk" and that would have been clear to Chen, who got the "almost defenceless" woman into his car when "she was barely aware of what was happening".
The judge said: "You took her directly to that dark and secluded industrial estate and if not before, certainly by that time, it is clear you intended some sexual assault. I'm quite sure that is what you were going to carry out when you attempted to get into the back of the car."
Judge Trevor-Jones added: "You maintained all of this was entirely chivalrous on your behalf, trying to help her in her desperate state."
The judge said when Chen tried to get into the back of the car "some survival instinct kicked in" and the woman escaped. He added: "This was a very terrifying, if short lived experience".
Jailing him for three and a half years, Judge Trevor-Jones said: "I have no doubt you present a high risk of harm to vulnerable females."
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