Shed - torture diary condemns trio
A diary kept by the female member of a trio who imprisoned an epileptic man in a garden shed in the south west of England desribes the torture and starvation the handyman suffered before his death.
Desperate attempts by the three accused to blame each other for keeping29-year-old Kevin Davies hostage in their garden shed may have worked if the damning diary detailing their abuse had not been discovered.
Amanda Baggus, fuming at damage Mr Davies had supposedly caused to her car in May, casually described how she and her partner David Lehane bullied and beat him for four months.
The couple, who lived in a modest house in the Forest of Dean, had decided he needed to pay them compensation for the accident.
Homeless, naïve and lonely, Kevin was locked away in the couple’s windowless, metal shed, where he would spend the next four months, living off scraps and being repeatedly beaten for no apparent reason.
Baggus took his social security money to pay off her household bills, while their captive was held hostage in the cramped shed in amongst the gardening equipment Lehane used for his landscaping business.
In an entry on August 3, she wrote: "Got Kevin money. Paid Sky (TV)."
He was again beaten by the pair in June after police were called to the address following a fight between Mr Davies and Lehane, who claimed he had damaged his equipment.
Baggus then begins describing him as “grass” in her diary, which she claimed she kept to help with her depression.
The violence became more extreme as weeks turned into months. Mr Davies was being burnt – possibly with a hot knife and a corrosive liquid – as her notes became ever more scornful of their prisoner.
“Decided to make sure Kevin had a good night by getting Dave to beat him up,” she wrote on July 21.
By this time, Scott Andrews, who had a string of previous convictions, had moved in with the couple and despite initially being unaware of the prisoner at the bottom of the garden, was soon joining in the abuse.
“Kevin tried to get away last night. If Scott had not been there, he would have got away,” she wrote three days later.
Another entry, earlier in the month, also revealed how they were effectively starving him and fed him “scraps” when they could be bothered.
Medical records later showed how Davies had lost 21kg since living in the shed.
“Prick came in. Have not given him no food, just drink. Dave smacked him one,” she wrote on July 3.
The abuse became such a normal part of their daily routine, that Baggus casually went on to describe mundane housework and her relationship problems in amongst the gruesome beatings.
The diary clearly showed all three had played an active role in his detention and abuse, and would play a key part in the prosecution’s case.
All three also recorded a video, in which their gaunt and terrified captive, nervously tells the camera he is afraid of his family and says he is being fed well.
Both were lies. On the day of his death, Baggus and Lehane had again visited the shed and hit him repeatedly in the face. She also hit him over the head with a jug.
His blood stained-body collapsed as he was dragged into the kitchen. Baggus rang 999 later that night, but he was already dead by the time they got there.
Baggus, who had no previous convictions and was a mother, was described as the instigator of the violence – as her own diary proved to be her downfall.
Quite what motivated the trio, who were described as ordinary members of the community by the police, to turn into sadists was never made clear.
One officer said the only explanation he had was: “It seems they got a power-kick out of it.”
