Leeds thug who threatened to shoot teen he falsely imprisoned is jailed

Leeds Crown Court heard Neil Denny, 37, bullied the 18-year-old at a house party in Roundhay before falsely imprisoning the teenager in his car.
Denny, 37, had attacked another party goer at the house before ordering the teenager, who suffers from a muscle wasting illness, to clean blood from the kitchen floor, telling him: “I will take you to the woods and shoot you.”
Denny, of Victoria Avenue, East End Park, Leeds, told the “petrified” teenager to get in his car and drove him to a dark secluded spot behind the house.
The teenager feared Denny had a gun and Denny told him he had explosives in the car boot before stealing his mobile phone during the incident on October 28 last year.

The offences were the last of a string of crimes Denny committed in 2016 while he was the subject of a suspended prison sentence.
Denny had been handed a 20-month jail sentence suspended for two years at Leeds Crown Court in January 2016 after he was convicted of affray, criminal damage and possession of an imitaton firearm.

Prosecutor, Howard Shaw said between January 31 and April 7 2016 Denny harassed his ex girlfriend by bombarding her with unwanted calls and texts and one voice message threatening to kidnap her if she didn’t speak to him.

Police arrested Denny on April 9 before releasing him on bail. On May 17 Denny racially abused two employees at Tesco on Roundhay Road, Leeds. Police had to use CS spray to arrest Denny later that day at a nearby pub when he became aggressive.

He was bailed again and on September 11 he attacked and injured a man at the Lonsdale Pub in Liversidge. He was arrested, bailed and went on to commit the offences in Roundhay on October 28. Denny admitted false imprisonment, robbery, harassment, two charges of racially aggravated harassment, resisting arrest and assault.

Mitigating, Michael Collins said: “He is ashamed, remorseful and embarrassed by is conduct.”

Jailing Denny for six-and-a-half-years, judge Mushtaq Khokar told him: “You threatened him you would shoot him in the woods.

“At one stage you had your hand down your waist making him think you were about to produce a weapon to assault him, or maybe a gun to shoot him with. That’s how frightened he was.”

Judge Khokhar added: “He would have been absolutely petrified.”