A VULNERABLE man who was left tied up at his home after a bizarre sex session went wrong only managed to escape by using his nose to call the police on his phone.
The 64-year-old man was abandoned with his wrists and legs bound at his home near Totnes when two strangers who he met on Valentine’s Day fled in his Jaguar car.
He was trapped for two hours and thought he was going to die before he was able to wriggle across the floor to reach a landline where he used his nose on the keypad to dial 999.
Police found him so tightly secured with ropes and cables that it took three minutes to remove all the restraints. He was left with painful bruising around his wrists, legs and neck.
The Jaguar was traced to Torquay and police were able to identify Thomas Young as the man who had stolen it and a young woman called Sandy Doddrell as his companion from CCTV.
Young told police that they had all gone back to the man’s home to take part in consensual sexual activity which involved a private lap dance and some bondage.
He said the victim had slapped Ms Doddrell too hard during the dance and become ‘too handy’ and he had responded by tying him up so he could not do it again. He claimed that the man had told him to take his car.
The victim told a completely different version in which he invited the couple back to his home to look at his collection of guitars before the woman took her top off and started dancing and the man then tied him up and stole his car.
Young, aged 35, of Torquay, admitted false imprisonment and theft of the Jaguar and was jailed for three years and two months with a two year extended licence by Judge Jaron Crooknorth at Exeter Crown Court.
Doddrell was found not guilty on the same counts and discharged but both were made subject of a restraining order banning them from contacting the victim or from going near his home for five years. Young was banned from driving for eight months after his release.
The judge told him: 'The victim was a vulnerable 64-year-old man who encountered you and Ms Doddrell while driving through Paignton.
'On your account, he paid for you or her to perform a sex act in the form of a lap dance, during which he slapped Ms Doddrell harder than he should.
'On your basis of plea, he consented to having both hands tied up to prevent him doing it again.
'You then tied him up further, way beyond what he consented to. You left him there tied up and he eventually managed to call 999 by wriggling to a landline and using his nose.
'His victim impact statement says he was affected physically and mentally and is struggling to sleep and that his anxiety has worsened.'
Mr Tom Bradnock, prosecuting, said the man did not know either Young or Ms Doddrell before they met on Paignton seafront on February 14 this year.
He told police he agreed to drive them to a lap dancing club in Totnes but stopped at his house on the outskirts of the town.
He said he invited them in to look at his collection of guitars but that Ms Doddrell took off her top and started dancing and he was then tied up and restrained by Young.
The couple left his home at around 5 pm and he remained tied up until he was able to use his nose on the phone keypad to call for help at 6.48 pm leading to police releasing him at 7.15 pm.
Mr Bradnock said officers found the man highly distressed and it took three minutes to free him completely.
He said: 'There was no torture her, but there was a certain element of humiliation.'
Mr Paul Dentith, defending, said Young has not committed any serious offences of violence since 2010 and his recent convictions are mainly for being drunk and disorderly.
He said there was no planning involved in this offence and that the victim had agreed to be restrained as part of the sexual activity. Young tried to return the car the next day but could not find the house.