Benfleet: Men sentenced over kidnap and robbery of dad

Jailed - (l-r) Karl Curtis, Shorn Charles-Chance and Stephen Musgrove

Officers from our serious and organised crime unit have secured a total of 17 years in prison for three men after a dad was robbed and kidnapped.

Blackmail threats were also made against the victim and his family during the incident.

On September 13, 2019, the victim was approached by two men, Shorn Charles-Chance and Steven Musgrove, in a residential street in Benfleet and was ordered to hand over a large quantity of money.

CCTV shows Musgrove, left, and Charles-Chance, right, during the incident

He was told to drive to a location to pick up the money. He was also threatened by the men, who travelled with him in the car.

When they arrived at the location, in Grays, a large amount of money was handed over to the men and the victim was ordered to drive to a supermarket on Canvey Island.

During a conversation whilst in the car, Charles-Chance was heard to say: “I’m close to you, I’ll see you in a minute, Karl.”

Once the car arrived at the supermarket, the men got out of car and the victim drove off.

A day later, the victim received a further call from Charles-Chance who ordered him to hand over more money.

When the victim refused, Charles-Chance made threats against the victim’s family.

A report was subsequently made to the police and an investigation by our organised crime unit was launched.

Analysis of CCTV and communications in the area at the time led us to believe Shorn Charles-Chance, Steven Musgrove and Karl Curtis, who had been called from the car by Charles-Chance, were involved and all three were arrested.

The trio were subsequently charged.

Charles Chance, 34, of Wanstead Lane, Ilford was charged with robbery, kidnap, blackmail and possession of an offensive weapon.

Musgrove, 46, of York Road, Southend, and Curtis, 34, of Sycamore Close, Canvey were charged with kidnap and robbery.

All three denied the charged but were found guilty by a jury at Basildon Crown Court. They were sentenced there on Friday by His Honour Judge Graham.

Charles-Chance was sentenced to a total of seven years’ imprisonment, made up of five years for the robbery and kidnapping, to run concurrently, two years for blackmail and three months for the offensive weapon, to run consecutively.

Curtis and Musgrove were each handed a total of five years in jail.

A proceeds of crime hearing is due to be heard at Basildon Crown Court in July.

Detective Inspector Yoni Adler, of the serious and organised crime unit, said:

“Each of these men played key roles in a very public robbery and kidnap in Benfleet. During this incident, which was pre-planned, threats were also made against the victim and his family.
“As a result, a report was made to the police and we were very quickly able to ascertain the key players in this crime, arrest them and charge them.
“Some time has now passed since these offences took place, but these men’s victim remains understandably shaken. It continues to affect both him and his family.
“However, I hope their convictions and subsequent sentencing bring some comfort to the victim and his family.”