A MAN charged with kidnapping a teenager has walked free after the prosecution’s witnesses refused to give evidence.

Joseph Ellson was able to return to his home in Yalding for the first time in two months after having previously been ordered to stay away as a condition of bail while his court case was pending.

Mr Ellson, 36, of Medway Avenue, had been arrested on March 11, after it was alleged he kidnapped a teenager, also from Yalding, and held him against his will. Mr Ellson was also alleged to have been in possession of a baseball bat as he drove the youth around in his car.

Mr Ellson had been remanded to live at an address in Willow Lane, Paddock Wood, during the trial proceedings, but his first appearance in court scheduled for May 16 was cancelled when prosecution witnesses failed to turn up.

At his rescheduled appearance before Maidstone Crown Court, the Crown Prosecution Service told the court that the witnesses in the case had refused to attend court and so the Crown had decided to offer no evidence.

Formal verdicts of not guilty were entered to the charges of kidnap and having an offensive weapon.

The news was greeted with some relief by other villagers in Yalding, where Mr Ellson lives with his partner Hayleigh Blighton and two small children who attend the village school.

They had some sympathy with Mr Ellson, because it is believed his family had suffered from repeated thefts and anti-social behaviour and Mr Ellson believed the youth to have been the chief culprit.

Mr Ellson was alleged to have waited for the youth outside the boy’s home and demanded to know the whereabouts of his son’s bicycle, which he believed the youth had taken.

When he did not get a satisfactory answer, Mr Ellson allegedly bundled the boy into his car and threatened to drive him around until the bike was returned.

During the drive, Mr Ellson allowed the boy to phone his mother on his mobile and, eventually, when he still did not learn where the bike was, Mr Ellson returned the teenager to his home.

Mr Ellson could not be reached for comment.