Kai Ashcroft, 17, held his victim hostage and whipped him with a belt
Adam Everett Crown Court Reporter and Greta Simpson Senior Reporter
09:25, 29 May 2026
Kai Ashcroft, of Osbourne Road in Litherland, aged 18(Image: Merseyside Police)
A 17-year-old boy who became ‘paranoid’ after taking cocaine subjected a childhood friend to a seven-hour ordeal in which he slashed him with a knife and forced him to consume drugs.
Kai Ashcroft whipped his victim with a belt while holding him hostage and threatening to “cut him up”, the Liverpool Echo reported.
It came after he blamed the other teenager for an unspecified incident a decade earlier, which he claimed had “ruined his life”. While being arrested, he then alarmingly confessed to police he planned to “hunt him down” and “execute” him in a manner which he said would be “bloody as f***”.
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Liverpool Crown Court heard on Thursday (May 28) that Ashcroft and Harry Bradshaw had been friends as children before moving to separate schools. However, they resumed contact in the months leading up to December 2025 via Instagram.
Daniel Bramhall, prosecuting, detailed how Ashcroft, then aged 17 but now 18, and 18-year-old Mr Bradshaw were together at the former’s home on Osbourne Road in Litherland on the evening of December 27 last year and had been taking cocaine before the “atmosphere shifted”.
This was said to have involved the defendant “becoming paranoid” at around 1am, asking his friend “who had sent him to his address”.
Mr Bradshaw responded by “asking him what was going on in his head”, at which stage Ashcroft “brought up an issue which took place when the pair were younger”. The complainant however stated he did not remember the incident in question.
Ashcroft thereafter “became increasingly aggressive”, “blaming Mr Bradshaw for ruining his life” and telling him that he “owed him his life”.
He then began punching and kicking Mr Bradshaw before arming himself with a kitchen knife, waving the weapon around and again urging him to confess. He went on to state he would “happily do 20 years to life for a scruffy c*** like you” and added: “I have nothing left.”
Being left “genuinely fearful for his life”, Mr Bradshaw then made admissions relating to the event while Ashcroft videoed him on his phone before hitting over the head with the device. He demanded £200 before repeatedly “poking and slashing” the complainant with the knife, leaving him in “extreme pain” and with cuts to his legs.
He went on to whip his victim using a leather belt with a metal buckle while calling him “a c***, a scruffy b****rd and a p***y”. Mr Bradshaw was then ordered to take the hallucinogenic drug 2CB, eventually consuming half a pill after initially refusing to do so. Ashcroft told him that this would “give him the worst trip”.
Later, Mr Bradshaw was forced to feed his assailant’s dogs and told to wash the blood from himself in the shower.
Ashcroft subsequently told Mr Bradshaw to phone his dad at 8am before ending this call and branding the other teenager a “bait little f***er”, warning him that he would “probably kill him and stab his father”. He was ultimately allowed to return home in a taxi, with his attacker being arrested later the same day.
While getting dressed, he told officers that he “couldn’t wait to hunt Mr Bradshaw down”. Having been taken into custody, Ashcroft remarked that he “whipped him everywhere with his belt” and “enjoyed doing so”.
Mr Bramhall described the incident as a “prolonged and persistent assault”. “There is an element of this being a revenge attack,” he said.
“This was an offence committed over a number of hours under the influence of drugs. There was repeated violence.”
Ashcroft has no previous convictions and was said to have ‘engaged well’ with support in the young offenders’ institute. Jim Smith, defending, told the court: “He has spent almost five months in detention which has had a significant impact upon him.
“There is no intention of the defendant causing further harm to the victim. He knows that he has to work very hard on himself to ensure this type of event never takes place again.
“His mother’s letter speaks of the compassionate, caring son he has been to her. He has been officially diagnosed with ADHD. The defendant also suffers with autism and a mental disorder due to the dependency that he had on multiple drugs. He suffers with vitamin deficiency due to nitrous oxide abuse.”
Mr Smith also outlined how Ashcroft had experienced the death of his 10-year-old cousin and suffered a fractured skull after being attacked in the weeks before the incident, adding: “There was a perfect storm for this vulnerable young man when these offences were committed.”
Ashcroft admitted wounding with intent and false imprisonment. Appearing via video link to HMYOI Wetherby, he was handed three years in a young offenders’ institute and a lifelong restraining order.
Sentencing, Judge Katherine Pierpoint said: “You and the complaint have known each other since you were very young. You gave no indication that there were any issues between the two of you.
“On the 27th of December, both of you took cocaine. At about one o’clock in the morning, the atmosphere changed. You started to act in a paranoid way. You became aggressive.
“You then subjected the complainant to a prolonged, horrific and terrifying ordeal which lasted about seven hours. He thought that he was going to die in your house that night.
“This, in my judgment, was a cruel, violent and intimidating attack, designed to hurt, humiliate, petrify and control Mr Bradshaw. It has left him feeling frightened and anxious.
“There are a number of members of your family here to support you. You are somebody who has not had an easy start to life.
“You have experienced several adverse childhood experiences. You were excluded from school in 2023, but did obtain four GCSEs.
“I accept that your mental health was deteriorating. You have been using drugs since you were about 15 years of age. I accept that, in the cold, sober light of day, you do show remorse for what you did.”
