AN INTERNATIONAL career criminal who kidnapped three women and a seven-year-old girl as part of a failed bank robbery attempt has been jailed for 23 years.
Michael Dunphy, 45, had claimed he acted under duress from other criminals and had no knowledge of the kidnapping plot.
However a court heard he was the ringleader and he was convicted on Tuesday of four counts of kidnap and two counts of attempted robbery.
Major player
Detective Inspector Mark Monteiro of South Yorkshire Police led the investigation into the region’s first 'tiger' kidnapping in two decades.
He said: “Dunphy is a major player in the international organised criminal network and he is now behind bars thanks to our cross-border investigation with GMP.”
He added: “We must also commend the bravery of the victims involved who will have some comfort in the knowledge that Dunphy is now locked away.”
Police disguise
Dunphy, of Barton Road, Hyde, Manchester, struck on November 21, 2017 after the mother had dropped one of her daughters off at school.
Claiming to be a police officer and that she had committed a driving offence, he then bundled the bank worker into a stolen Audi.
He also kidnapped her seven-year-old daughter before heading to the Herringthorpe Valley Road branch of Barclays in Rotherham.
At the bank, Dunphy – dressed in a wig and beard as a disguise – threatened two other female members of staff and forced them to start the time-delay on the safe.
However the mum’s elder daughter had witnessed the earlier terrifying kidnapping and informed her school and the police.
After officers contacted the victim, alerting Dunphy that police were on their way, he fled before dumping the stolen Audi and driving back to Manchester in a cloned van.
No normal criminal
At Sheffield Crown Court in Wednesday, Judge Robert Bartfield sentenced Dunphy to 18 years with an extension period of five years.
“To kidnap a mother and child as you did shows a determination well beyond that of a normal individual or even a normal criminal,” said the judge.
“The events of that day will be forever etched upon the minds and souls of those who were involved.”
In 2011, Dunphy was jailed for 11 years after pleading guilty to the kidnap and manslaughter of Paul Brady in Rochdale. He was released in 2016.
See More: Michael Dunphy, Rotherham, Tiger Kidnapping
