Student tried to kidnap ex using fake gun

A student who tried to kidnap his ex-girlfriend with a fake handgun after terrorising her into believing his family were out to kill her has been jailed for five years.

The victim of Chinese national Zhao Tong Li, 23, "bravely" ran away from him after he tried to make her leave her home with him at gunpoint, Durham Crown Court heard.

He had previously planted tracking devices in her room and staged a smoke-bomb attack in a bid to make her think his supposedly dangerous relatives were out to get her so he could further control her.

Li admitted five offences including kidnap, coercive control and possession of an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.

Li, who moved to the UK to study biology and anthropology at Durham University, began a relationship with the fellow student from China in May 2024, prosecutor John Crawford said.

The woman ended the relationship six months later due to Li's possessive and controlling behaviour, which included telling her where she could go and who she could speak to, the court heard.

But Li, of Claypath in Durham, continued to "bombard" her with messages, phone calls and unwanted visits, the court heard, physically attacking her twice.

He escalated his behaviour by telling her she "knew too much" about his family and they were "targeting" her, the court heard.

Li planted tracking devices in her room which he told her his family had done and carried out a smoke-bomb attack which he again said his relatives were behind, Crawford said.

The woman was so terrified by the perceived threat she allowed Li to sleep on her floor believing he would protect her, the court heard.

But she eventually found out Li had faked it all in a bid to try and control her further, the court heard.

On 9 February, the woman returned to her student accommodation to find Li outside her room on the third floor armed with a lock knife and what appeared to be a handgun, the court heard.

He confronted her in the corridor and thrust the weapon into her chest, then when she refused to leave with him, he loaded it with a magazine containing seven rounds and dug it deeper into her ribs, the court heard.

Fearing she would be killed, she walked with Li towards the stairs, but then ran away when he dropped the gun, banging on doors to get help before getting to a reception area where staff detained Li, the court heard.

The gun was found to be a pistol for firing blanks, which had been orange before Li painted it black to make it appear more realistic, which was also an illegal act, Crawford said.

In a statement read to the court, the woman said no words could fully describe the "distress and damage" caused by Li, adding the impact on her had been "overwhelming".

"I genuinely believed I was going to die if I did not run away from him," the woman said, adding the feeling of terror had "stayed with [her] ever since".

"He has changed how safe I feel in the world," the woman said. "I feel the fear has become rooted in me."

Judge Richard Bennett said the woman had come to Durham to study but had the "misfortune to meet" Li, who was "devious, manipulative and violent".

After she ended the relationship, Li's "obsession became worse" and he "invented a fantasy story" about his family to "exert control" over the woman and make her believe she was in "peril", which caused her "significant anxiety".

"It is difficult to envisage more extreme methods of control" the judge told Li, adding he made her believe he was her "knight in shining armour when in fact you were the threat".

Bennett said the woman was "understandably terrified" by Li's attempt to kidnap her, adding she "had the good sense and bravery to run away" from him.

A restraining order was also made to last for five years, with the judge saying Li would most likely be deported back to China upon his release from prison.

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