The court heard that the victim was stripped naked, beaten and then forced to film a video for his family to pay a ransom. Hammond denied travelling from London to Stockton, despite mobile phone data obtained by police showing his mobile phone was connecting to masts in that area. Pearce also denied being in the Land Rover, claiming he was busy racing pigeons at his allotment. Detectives from Cleveland Police’s Stockton CID gathered CCTV and telephone data to build their case. Yet there was a considerable amount of material presented to the jury that disputed this, including CCTV and mobile phone data.