Spurned lover concocted Dalek kidnap and rescue plot to win back heart of ex-girlfriend

A man who had been dumped by his girlfriend offered a friend £20,000 to kidnap her while disguised as a Dalek, a court heard.

James Wakefield's bizarre plan was for Aaron Rawson to don a £40 toy Dalek voice-changer helmet from Woolworths so that the woman wouldn't recognise him.

He would then abduct her from her home at knifepoint and take her to a wood.

Wakefield, 28, would arrive to rescue her in the hope that this would win back her affections.

The plot - described in court as 'unworkable, barmy and bizarre' - was hatched during a drunken conversation.

James Hett, prosecuting, said: 'Any reservations that Wakefield was being less than serious were soon dispelled by those purchases.'

Rawson, 21, claimed he thought Wakefield was joking until the next day when he bought the helmet, along with other equipment including night vision goggles, handcuffs, an air pistol, a balaclava and a boiler suit.

Rawson abandoned the plan after twice waiting outside the home of the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, in Newark, Nottinghamshire.

Once, he fled after being 'spooked' by a cat. The second time he ran off after being caught in a car's headlights.

Wakefield, of no fixed address, denied conspiracy to kidnap but was found guilty at Nottingham Crown Court. He was jailed yesterday for 14 months.

Rawson, of Newark, who admitted the same charge at an earlier hearing, was jailed for nine months, suspended for 18 months.

He was also handed a supervision order, made the subject of a curfew and ordered to attend an alcohol treatment programme.

Mr Justice McCombe told the pair the plot was 'despicable and cowardly'.

Wakefield had lived with the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, for six months before she ended their relationship three days before Christmas.

Martin Elwick, defending Wakefield, said Rawson was 'acting on a frolic of his own' and called the plot 'unworkable, barmy and bizarre.'