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A Guy Faked A Kidnapping To Get Drunk With His Friends, Went To Jail
In early 2018, the pregnant Zoe Doyle received a frantic phone call. Her boyfriend, Leigh Ford, had been taken by two kidnappers while getting food for their evening tea. Doyle thought the whole thing was a joke, the ol' "love of my life has been violently taken against his will" prank. Who hasn't gotten that phone call?
Then they called again, threatening to break Ford's legs, cut off his genitals, and throw boiling water on him. Shouts could be heard in the background as a terrified Ford relayed his captors' demands: 80 pounds. Doyle transferred the oddly specific amount of money to a designated account. It was everything she had, which makes what happens next significantly sadder.
Fearing for the father of their future child, she called the police, launching a major 24-hour investigation. Armed officers scoured the city, a helicopter took to the sky, and a special negotiator was on standby. Things looked grim. And then early the next day, miraculously, Ford came home. Had he fought off his attackers, using his burgeoning Dad Strength to go all John Wick on a couple of crooks? Nope. He'd staged the whole thing to get plastered with his friends.
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