TWO members of a vigilante gang who beat up, robbed and stripped a holidaymaker before frogmarching him to a pub in New Quay because they mistakenly thought he was a paedophile have been jailed.
Stephanie Georgina Jones, 29, and 28-year-old Jordan Russell Davies, now both of Glasfryn, Llanelli, appeared before Swansea Crown Court on 15 July for sentencing after previously pleading guilty to robbery and inflicting grievous bodily harm.
The pair had originally also been charged with kidnap but that was dropped when the guilty pleas were accepted.
The court heard that Jones and Davies were the only two members of the gang who were ever identified following the attack back in July 2018.
Despite the fact the defendants were arrested within days of the assault it took police more than three years to charge them.
The court heard that a Lithuanian national who was living and working in London was visiting west Wales in his camper van.
He was parked up in the centre of New Quay near the Sea Horse Inn and was preparing for bed when a group of people approached the vehicle.
While members of the group used their mobiles as torches and shone lights in the victim’s face they beat the man up, stripped him naked, and stole his iPad, phone and laptop along with cash and bank cards, the court heard.
The group then forced the naked, bruised and bloodied man to walk to the nearby Sea Horse pub and pushed him inside in an act designed to "degrade and humiliate" him further.
While he was sat on the pavement outside the pub, the female member of the group - later identified as Jones - kicked him forcibly in the head before laughing.
The victim was taken to hospital after suffering cuts, bruises and severe swelling around the eyes.
A CT scan also revealed bleeding on the brain.
The court heard that Davies chatted to friends on social media about what happened that night, saying they had “robbed him and made him walk through New Quay naked.”
Jones also effectively made admissions about her involvement in the attack in a Facebook post in which she talked about "the boys" going to the van of a man they believed to be a "paedo" and beating him up, something which made her "happy".
He also described how she had told the man to take his clothes off before kicking him in the head.
In a victim impact statement, the court heard that the victim had gone home to Lithuania for three months to recover from the attack, and had been left suffering with panic attacks and psychological problems.
The theft of his laptop and iPad meant he had lost his job, the court heard.
In mitigation, the court heard that Davies was a "very, very immature" young man who had no idea of the seriousness of his conduct.
Jones had expressed remorse for her actions, the court heard.
The pair were each sentenced to 42 months in prison by Judge Paul Thomas who said they had launched “a callous and sustained attack on an innocent man.”