A 26-year-old Englishman involved in the kidnapping and torture of a Scottish man in a drugs deal that went wrong was jailed for nine years by a Loulé court.
The victim, James Ross, had been met at Faro Airport and was taken to a house in Loulé where he was held prisoner for 13 days in 2010.
Five other men were involved in the kidnap and Ross allegedly suffered “incredible” torture at the hands of Matthew Conde, who burned him with a blowtorch and attacked him with various weapons that caused mutilations.
Conde was suspected of trying to dispose of the body of Ross along with his accomplices in a lake in the Alentejo.
Conde then fled to the UK but was arrested and later extradited. Meanwhile, his accomplices were dealt with by the Portuguese courts in 2012.
Matthew Conde was found guilty of qualified homicide and aggravated kidnapping. His lawyer said he will lodge an appeal.
See ‘Gang leader gets maximum prison sentence’ in the July 20 2012 edition of the Algarve Resident.
