UPDATED: Gang of five guilty in Crawley torture case

EVIL torturers erupted with rage after being convicted of terrorising a man for four days.

Vile Nina Fox and Melvina Harwood, who considered themselves “black witches”, lunged at fellow defendant Sarah Wright as guilty verdicts were read out.

The pair believed Wright, who gave evidence during the trial at Hove Crown Court, was responsible for their convictions.

The three, along with Steven Fox and Scott Smith, held their victim at a flat in Ifield Drive and subjected him to brutal mental and physical torture.

He was whipped, beaten, forced to drink bleach and had his foot smashed with a hammer, finally stabbing himself five times in a desperate attempt to force his captors to call an ambulance.

The five were each charged with false imprisonment and conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm with intent.

All except Steven Fox were also charged with sexual assault by penetration following a vicious attack, details of which are too horrific for publication.

Steven and Nina Fox, 27 and 41, both of Ifield Drive, Smith, 20, of Capricorn Close, Bewbush, and Harwood, 25, of Spencers Road, West Green, were convicted of all charges they faced, although Mr and Mrs Fox earlier admitted the false imprisonment offence.

Wright, 30, also of Ifield Drive, was found guilty of false imprisonment and sexual assault by penetration but was cleared of the GBH charge.

The 22-year-old victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was lured to the flat on Thursday, March 5 last year.

His torturers, who dialled 999 after he stabbed himself in the chest and punctured his own lung, initially told police he had arrived at the door already injured.

Officers initially treated them as witnesses after the call in the early hours of Monday March 9, but soon became suspicious and arrested them later that day.

During the trial, Wright’s lawyer Rupert Hallowes said the others launched a “little plot” against his client after she “broke ranks and started telling the truth” to police.

Breaking down in tears at the verdict, Nina Fox shouted obscenities at Wright, adding: “I’m not doing time for you.”

Three guards protected Wright from the other defendants as they were taken out of court.

Judge Charles Kemp praised the jury for their involvement in a “thoroughly disagreeable case,” which was repeatedly disrupted by the defendants.

Speaking after Thursday’s verdicts, he said: “It remains to me to thank you for your very obvious hard work and diligence.

“You have presumably been distracted by the defendants in the dock but you have listened to the case with a very great deal of care.”

They will be sentenced on March 24.

SARAH Wright knew the victim and lured him to the flat, but the jury decided she was not part of the conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm.

Wright played little part in many of the attacks and even bandaged the victim’s foot after Scott Smith smashed it with a hammer.

However, the court heard she was the main perpetrator of the brutal sexual assault.

She was also convicted of false imprisonment, meaning jurors believed she helped keep the victim hostage at the flat where she was temporarily living with Nina and Steven Fox, who were “like parents” to her.

Wright’s lawyer said the others tried to blame her for what happened after she told police the truth, breaking their agreement to give officers a false story.

SCOTT Smith repeatedly punched, kicked and humiliated the victim throughout his captivity.

Smith watched him vomit after drinking bleach then forced him to drink more, causing renewed sickness as well as breathing difficulties.

He also forced the victim to take his shoes and socks off before hitting his right foot at least four times with a claw hammer, leaving him in need of surgery.

Smith used a mobile phone to film the victim being kicked and shouted at by other defendants, while Smith himself invited an unknown sixth person to come and join the torture.

He was convicted of all three charges.

MELVINA Harwood, Smith’s partner, punched and kicked the victim numerous times and shaved his head to humiliate him.

At one point, she injured her foot by kicking him. It was this injury which led Smith to break the victim’s foot with a hammer, something he saw as fair retribution.

Harwood encouraged the others to beat the victim and launched several vicious attacks, punching, slapping and kicking him with no warning.

She also encouraged a 13-year-old to stamp on the victim’s head, something seen on the mobile phone video which was played in court.

She was convicted of all three charges.

NINA Fox, who considered herself a “mother” to Wright and Harwood, worked as a prostitute, advertising herself as a “disabled dominatrix”.

She and husband Steven Fox lived in the Ifield Drive flat.

Mr and Mrs Fox hid in a bathroom when the victim entered and jumped out after he arrived, Mrs Fox shouting: “You ain’t going nowhere”.

At one point Mrs Fox, who also calls herself a “black witch”, banged the victim’s head against a TV stand, leaving blood later found by the police.

After the victim’s decision to stab himself, Mrs Fox told the others she did not care if he died and delayed calling an ambulance while they agreed the story they would tell police.

She admitted false imprisonment and was found guilty of the GBH and sexual assault charges.

STEVEN Fox lived at the Ifield Drive flat with his wife Nina, who is 14 years his senior.

Like his wife, he hid in a bathroom as the victim entered the flat and jumped out when he was inside.

The victim said Mr Fox spent one night sleeping by the front door to stop him escaping.

In the mobile phone footage recorded by Smith, Mr Fox is seen repeatedly kicking the victim in the head as he lies motionless in an armchair.

Unlike the others, Mr Fox was not charged with sexual assault. He admitted false imprisonment and was convicted of conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm with intent.