A Carlisle man who has pleaded guilty to an offence of kidnapping has been warned by a judge that he is now facing a likely jail sentence.

The city’s crown court was told that Sebastian Stec, 23, was seen dragging the victim into a car from a city street before it was driven away. It happened at Carlisle’s Kingmoor Industrial estate, though the reasons behind the offence were not revealed during the short hearing before Judge David Potter.

The defendant, of Borland Avenue, Botcherby, committed the offence on June 12 last year.

Defence lawyer Mark Shepherd said Stec was a man of previous good character and he asked the judge to approve the preparation of a background report before sentencing.

The lawyer said: “I acknowledge that kidnap is always a very serious offence.

“But he would say that the only violence was dragging [the victim] to the car. There was no violence on the roadside.”

Stec was not the person who punched the victim, added Mr Shepherd.

Responding to that submission, prosecutor Jeremy Grout-Smith said the Crown Prosecution Service understood the defendant to be saying that the victim was not subjected to violence.

But the barrister pointed out that a fellow motorist who was negotiating a roundabout near to the scene of the kidnap had seen the victim being assaulted. It was acknowledged that Stec was maintaining he was not the perpetrator of that violence.

The only part he accepted playing in the offence was the dragging of the victim to the car and nothing else.

But the prosecution case was that two men were seen kicking the victim as he lay on the ground.

The man was also punched.

Adjourning the case for a sentencing hearing on October 23, Judge Potter told Stec: “You have pleaded guilty to kidnap and that is always a very serious offence.

“You can expect to receive an immediate custodial sentence.

“I am adjourning for a pre-sentence report and you must cooperate with the Probation Service in the preparation of that report. That cooperation begins today.”

The judge granted Stec bail.

This was given to the defendant, who spoke only to confirm his identity and to enter his guilty plea, on condition that he has no contact whatsoever with the victim and he was also banned from going on to the city’s Kingmoor Industrial Estate.

The defendant was assisted in court by a Polish interpreter.

The victim of the offence, who was not in court for the hearing, was another Polish national.

During previous hearings Stec had denied the offence but he changed his plea to guilty at the start of yesterday’s hearing before Judge Potter.

There was no mention during the hearing of the second man who was said by the prosecution to be involved in the kidnap.

Under common law, the maximum potential sentence for kidnap is life in prison, though such a sentence would usually only apply in the most serious of cases.

The offence involves unlawfully carrying somebody away “by force or by fraud” against his or her will.