Overview
- The court heard that on December 27, 2025 a 17‑year‑old Kai Ashcroft held childhood friend Harry Bradshaw hostage for about seven hours after taking cocaine, using a kitchen knife, whipping him with a belt and forcing him to take 2CB.
- Ashcroft pleaded guilty to wounding with intent and false imprisonment and was sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court to three years in a young offenders’ institute with a lifetime restraining order.
- Prosecutors described repeated violence, threats and admissions that Ashcroft planned to 'hunt' and 'execute' the victim, and that he later told officers he had 'enjoyed' whipping him.
- Defence counsel told the court Ashcroft has official diagnoses of ADHD and autism, a drug dependency and recent traumatic events including the death of a cousin, and the judge said those factors reduced the sentence he would otherwise have received.
- The victim has reported ongoing fear and anxiety, and the sentence leaves open further needs for rehabilitation, victim support and monitoring of a young offender who courts say is vulnerable but capable of change.