Three heroin users from Llanelli, Wales, who kept a 55-year-old man suffering from bi-polar disorder in a house and extorted money from him through beatings and sexual assault to pay for their heroin, have just been sentenced in a Swansea court after pleading guilty last month. According to the BBC, the judge said they “had reached the depths of human depravity”.
The unnamed victim was kept inside the home of the ringleader, 27-year-old Susan Clarke - who he was said to have been infatuated with - and continually tortured throughout February, including being tied up and sexually assaulted as well as being made to drive to the isolated Pembrey beach where, as promised, he was beaten. They also got him to withdraw hundreds of pounds from his building society account as well as shoplift goods for them.
Clarke received an unspecified sentence, said to be “many years”, but will be able to apply for parole after four years. As for her accomplices, 21-year-old Debbie Davies got six years, while 23-year-old Trevor Reid - who eventually went forward to police - received five. In comparison, prison sentences for drug convictions are as follows:
* Class A (eg. cocaine): Seven years for possession, life for supplying
* Class B (eg. Amphetamines): Five years for possession, 14 for supplying
* Class C (eg. Marijuana): Two years for possession, 14 for supplying
All three were said to be heroin users. Davies, a mother of two, has been using since she was 13, while Reid had only just started a few weeks before the offences began. Clarke’s lawyer described her as having a “permanent and unshakeable drug habit.” The BBC didn’t say what efforts she had taken to kick her habit, whether his statement was backed by a medical opinion or what exact relevance it had to her defence.
