MIDDLESBROUGH DEALER VINCE AGAR FOUND GUILTY OF HISTORIC CRIMES AGAINST TWO VULNERABLE WOMEN
A former Middlesbrough drug dealer has been convicted of detaining two women against their will, one of whom he brutally attacked while holding her captive.Following a trial at Teesside Crown Court, a jury found Vincent Agar guilty of six of eight offences for which he was charged.The offences occurred around the turn of the century in the Newport area of Middlesbrough against the vulnerable women, both of whom were drug users at the time.Now aged 80, Agar had been living in Koh Samui, Thailand, before he was arrested and extradited to face the charges.
The two victims, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had to relive their ordeals in court as Agar denied all their claims.He was convicted of causing grievous bodily harm with intent, false imprisonment, making threats to kill, and supplying cocaine.
The court heard how he had three doors installed inside his flat in Parliament Road, with the prosecution suggesting it was an "elaborate security arrangement" to dispense his "own sort of justice".The first victim gave evidence about being attacked twice and held against her will by Agar, once in his flat on Parliament Road.
In a recorded interview, she described a "torture chamber" in the flat, which included an "old fashioned wooden chair" with leather straps, although he did not use it during her ordeal.Agar was found guilty of one charge of inflicting grievous bodily harm (GBH) related to this victim.
He was cleared of a second GBH charge but found guilty of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
He was cleared of indecent assault after the woman claimed he also raped her while she was unconscious.He was also convicted of making threats to kill and supplying cocaine.
Jurors heard how the second victim, a sex worker at the time, was held captive in his flat for 90 minutes after she went to buy drugs.
She saw a girl handcuffed to a radiator and claimed Agar refused to let her leave, even threatening to shoot her.During the three-week trial, the court also learned of Agar's previous convictions, including a 2000 attack on a former partner using an iron bar, glass bottle, hammer, scissors, and lit cigarettes, for which he received four and a half years' imprisonment after pleading guilty.Both victims had spoken to police about the incidents in 2001 as part of different investigations, but no action was taken until they made formal complaints in 2020.
Agar was remanded in custody until his sentencing scheduled for Thursday, April 30.
