Fantasy MI5 spy jailed for kidnapping a model The jury heard how he had befriended Miss Chapman when she contacted last July him about the possibility of furthering her modelling career. Richard Barton, prosecuting, said Webber had been intelligent and plausible and had managed to convince Miss Chapman that he was a secret agent working for MI5. He told her she was also about to be recruited by the security services and made her watch episodes of the BBC spy series, Spooks as "part of her training." He also blindfolded her and tied her to a chair in what he claimed was an interrogation room of a safe house, but what was in fact his friend's house in Portslade, East Sussex. Webber often spoke to imaginary contacts on the phone, pretending to discuss the details of his missions. Over the following six days he took her to a string of hotels along the south coast telling her increasingly elaborate lies which left her believing her life was genuinely in danger. Mr Barton said: "He talked about 'shooting to kill'. He collapsed on the ground in shock on hearing that colleagues had been killed. She was terrified. He took her phone and bank card. He was in control. The pair were eventually tracked down to woods outside Eastbourne and Miss Chapman's first words to officers who approached them were: "Are you police? Am I safe? Why have you not found me until now? I haven't slept for five days. In sentencing Webber, His Honour Judge Peter De-Mille described him as "manipulative" and "a danger to the public, especially women." Webber was sentenced to nine years imprisonment for each of the kidnap, threats and grievous bodily harm offences, all to run concurrently, and to six months for the criminal damage offence to run concurrently. Detective Inspector Mick Jones said: "Stephen Webber is clearly a dangerous individual whose deceit and manipulation led a vulnerable young woman into believing that he was a spy for MI5 and that they were both in life threatening danger. This led to the victim being too frightened to leave him over a five day period in which they travelled to Eastbourne, staying in local accommodation whilst their alleged pursuers hunted for them. The victim was so fearful of the situation presented by Webber that she was too afraid to attempt to escape. This led to the victim writing a goodbye note to her family as she feared that she would be killed at any time. He added: "The courage of the victim in giving evidence in this case is worthy of tribute. The defendant by pleading not guilty put the victim through the trauma of re-Iiving her ordeal but she knew she had to in order to get justice and in doing so protect others from Webber.