A bricklayer from Telford involved in the kidnap and rape of a woman and kidnap of four other people has been jailed for 10 years.

Neil Garmson, 37, twice kidnapped people in cars and, in the first attack, raped a 36-year-old mother of two.

At Stafford Crown Court yesterday, Recorder Patrick Thomas QC said impact statements showed the kidnap and rape in April 2005 had a “shattering” effect on the victim and her boyfriend.

In March last year, Garmson, a former soldier, kidnapped a man and two young women at knifepoint in Wellington.

Recorder Thomas said: “On this occasion you robbed everybody and committed an unpleasant sexual attack on one of the young women.”

Recorder Thomas said Garmson had frightened his victims into submission and, although the attacks were not premeditated, having found himself in control of his victims, Garmson used it for financial gain and his own sexual gratification.

Garmson, who was convicted of 13 charges following a 10-day trial, must register as a sex offender for life and, following his release from prison, will be on licence for the rest of his life

The jury found Garmson guilty of kidnapping the 36-year-old woman and her boyfriend in Granville Country Park, Donnington, and two counts of rape and one of a serious sexual assault and being in possession of an imitation firearm.

Garmson, of School Court, Wellington, was also convicted of seven other charges involving the kidnap of the man and two female students, aged 25 and 24, in a car near a Wellington nightclub in March last year.

He was also convicted of robbing the three victims of cash and indecently assaulting the 25-year-old woman.

The jury heard Garmson was linked to the incident in April 2005 following his arrest for the attacks in Wellington last year.

The rape victim, who cannot be identified, told the jury she believed Garmson was armed with a gun.

Garmson, who represented himself after sacking his barrister, denied any involvement.

The court heard Garmson, a former chef with the Royal Logistics Corp, served 10 months in an army prison after being convicted by court martial in 1998 of indecently assaulting four women in an accommodation block.

By Arthur Mills