A one-legged thug who has tattoos across his face and head has admitted the false imprisonment of a woman with a loaded airgun.
Amputee Mark Vevers, aged 50, pleaded guilty to the false imprisonment of “a woman in her 40s” working for an online firm that offers high interest loans.
Appearing before Northampton Crown Court yesterday, Vevers pleaded guilty to charges of robbery, false imprisonment, having a firearm and theft, all from the same incident on January 25.
Prosecuting, Jenna Allen, said Vevers had taken a £300 loan from an online company. As part of the repayment plan he was paying £20 a week, which was collected by the victim every Friday from Vevers’ home, in Bouverie Walk, Northampton.
At 3.40pm, on Friday, January 25, the victim went to his house and was told if she waited another man would visit who also wanted a loan. When she tried to leave after 30 minutes Vevers pulled a gun from underneath his wheelchair.
The court heard it was a loaded airgun, which he told police he used to shoot rats. He then told the victim to wait in his bathroom. However, she feared she would be killed inside the wet room, with any evidence then washed away, so she refused.
Instead Vevers took £485 from her collections before wheeling down to a cashpoint on Wellingborough Road where he withdrew £300 from her account.
He was later arrested by armed police at a friend’s house in St James. Judge Richard Bray refused Vevers’ application to be sentenced straight away, adjourning it instead for a pre-sentence report.
The court heard Mark Vevers’ victim begged “200 times” to be released from her hour-and-a-half gunpoint ordeal. She was “totally and utterly terrified” afterwards. Judge Richard Bray refused to sentence Vevers, despite his wish to be dealt with on the day. He said: “This is so bizarre and so absurd there could be some kind of mental illness. He was bound to get caught, the phrase ‘nowhere to run’ is particularly poignant in this case.”