Pregnant woman's torturers jailed

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Pregnant woman's torturers jailed

April 19, 2007 9:22 AM

A man and woman who kidnapped, stripped and tortured a pregnant teenager with learning difficulties have been jailed for a total of 17 years. Tammy McGregor, 19, had hot salted water poured over her wounds and cigarettes stubbed out on her at a flat in Aberdeen.

Lee Holt, 27, and Donna O'Neill, 21, admitted assault, causing severe injury and permanent disfigurement. At the High Court in Edinburgh, Holt received nine years and O'Neill eight.

The judge, Lord Bracadale, said that they had subjected their victim to a long and sustained experience of torture over several hours. The judge added that such examples of calculated wickedness were rare.

Relatives of Ms McGregor told BBC Scotland they were "delighted" with the sentence after what she had endured. Ms McGregor's ordeal began when she was lured to a tenement flat in the city's Park Road in September last year. There the accused tied her up, beat her, slashed her with a knife, stubbed out cigarettes on her head and body and threatened to kill her.

Ms McGregor was described as having a mental age of 12 and was terrified. Holt was Ms McGregor's former lover and the attack happened after it was claimed she had spread rumours that he was a rapist. Her face was so badly swollen doctors could not operate on her immediately and she had to use a wheelchair for three months. She also suffered a broken nose and jaw and needed treatment to cuts all over her body.

James Murray was visiting a friend at the flats in Park Road on the day the torture took place. They managed to alert police after Holt came to tell them what was going on. Mr Murray told BBC Scotland: "We didn't know whether to believe him or not as it was a little bit surreal. It was only later when Donna O'Neill came to the flat and Lee Holt went back downstairs and Donna actually confirmed what was going on that we clicked. My friend phoned the police while I kept Donna O'Neill occupied talking until the police arrived."

Grampian Police said in a statement: "This was an appalling attack on a vulnerable and defenceless young woman. No-one deserves to be subjected to the kind of terrifying ordeal Lee Holt and Donna O'Neill put her through. To subject a vulnerable woman to the kind of physical and mental torture that day beggars belief. Only time will tell how she will recover physically and emotionally. It is to be hoped today's sentence will help her get over the events of last September and get on with her life."