Solarpix)
Two British men have been cleared of kidnapping a woman who disappeared in 2014.
Westley Capper, 41, from Essex, was found guilty of a lesser crime of coercion relating to the way he got waitress Agnese Klavina, 30, to leave with him outside the Aqwa Mist nightclub, in Costa del Sol.
Fellow defendant Craig Porter, 37, from Liverpool, was convicted of being Cappers accomplice.
Expat Capper received a two-year prison sentence and Porter was handed a six-month jail term but they are both likely to walk free because under Spanish law sentences of two years or less for first-time offenders are normally suspended.
A third man who was tried – Aqwa Mist club doorman Siane Ousmani – was cleared of all charges.
The Brits were facing up to 16 years if they were convicted of Ms Klavinas illegal detention.
MORE: Dog rescues newborn baby buried alive by mum, 15, who wanted to hide pregnancy
Capper had insisted he dropped Ms Klavina, from Latvia, off near a flat she was staying at after she changed her mind about going back to his house to party on September 6, 2014.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Father-of-four Porter said he fell asleep on the back seat of the Mercedes before the drop-off because he was drunk and tired.
CCTV footage of them leaving Aqwa Mist, in Puerto Banus, was played in court at the trial last month and was analysed by police who said it showed Ms Klavina was forced into Cappers car and defence experts who insisted there was no coercion.
No DNA evidence was ever uncovered in the Mercedes or a boat Capper and Porter went out to sea on from Puerto de la Duquesa port near Gibraltar shortly after Ms Klavinas disappearance.
MORE: Dad bewildered by epilepsy seizure dies after walking into tube tunnel
Private prosecutors for Ms Klavinas family demanded a 12-year prison sentence for Porter, a 16-year prison sentence for Capper and four years for Ousmane.
A family lawyer admitted before the trial he thought Ms Klavina was at the bottom of the sea.
A spokesman for Ms Klavinas family said: The family are very disappointed with the verdict.
Two years is not enough.
The Find Agnese Klavina Facebook page added in a statement: The family have been awarded legal costs.
Each defendant must pay one third each of these costs. ThRead More – Source
[contf]
[contfnew]
METRO
[contfnewc]
[contfnewc]
