THREE men have been jailed for falsely imprisoning a vulnerable woman with learning difficulties.

Sean Carl Wolfe, 42, Philip Pringle, 21 and Daniel Alderson, 21, had kept her imprisoned in Pringle’s home in Clifton Road, Darlington, Teesside Crown Court heard.

The three men, who all pleaded guilty, had been drinking by the River Tees in the town on Friday, August 9 when they went back to the house with the woman on August 9 last year.

The court heard, once inside, that Wolfe, described as the leader, sat next to the woman on the settee and “tried to get with her”although nothing developed.

However, the woman was told; “You’re not going anywhere, sit down and shut up”. When she tried to leave she was also told “The only way you’re getting out is dangled out of the window by your ankles.”

After about an hour and a half some other young women called round and released her. The other women described the victim as being frightened, scared and upset and childlike.

Judge Peter Armstrong described the crime as “appalling” but gave the men credit for pleading guilty and saving the woman from having to give evidence in court.

He sentenced Wolfe to two years, Alderson, of George Short Close, Darlington to 16 months and Pringle, of Ainderby Steeple, near Northallerton, to 16 months. An order was imposed banning them from contacting the woman on release.