A teenager held his mum hostage for more than eight hours and threatened to kill her after she refused to give him money to pay off drug debts.

Ryan Ogden, 18, held scissors up to her eyes to scare her, beat her and tried to suffocate her by putting a blanket over her face and mouth so she couldn't breathe.

Ogden, described by his mother as a 'difficult son with a troubled education', was finally arrested - after a pizza ploy.

Specialist hostage negotiators called in to speak with him offered to order pizza.

A court heard Ogden believed there was cash inside the pizza box and let his mum leave their home to collect it when it arrived.

Armed police stormed the address when she did and Ogden was held, Bolton Crown Court heard.

The court was told that in one conversion with an officer liaising with him he said 'I will watch it [the house] burn down from a gas explosion'.

Ogden also said the debt was 'not a lot for two people's lives' and claimed he had a knife and would stab his mum.

He pleaded guilty to blackmail, two counts of assault by beating and two counts of making threats to kill.

Ogden pleaded not guilty to false imprisonment but his pleas to the other offences were accepted by the prosecution and that charge was ordered to lie on file. 

On Thursday, he was sentenced to a three-year community order with a 40-day rehabilitation activity requirement and a 12-month drug rehabilitation requirement.

A judge said he needed help

Ogden was also ordered to reside at an address approved by the Probation Service.

In mitigation, his defence barrister Richard Dawson said: "He needs help and his family are standing by him."

Judge Martin Walsh said there were 'underlying psychotic issues'.

The incident happened on March 5 at his home on Lancaster Court in Leigh, Wigan.

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Geoffrey Lowe, prosecuting at Bolton Crown Court, said: "His mother describes him as a difficult son with a troubled education, and has more recently suffered from depression, anxiety and psychosis.

"On the afternoon of March 5, the defendant started to demand that he should obtain money and she should give it him, but his mother refused. The defendant owed money.

"When she refused, and other family members refused, the defendant told his mother that he would beat her.


"Secondly he got a blanket over her face and made it so she couldn't breathe.

"She was able to grab her son and pull him off her.

"They remained in that same room for a couple of hours and he was watching her every move and intimidating her."

Ogden pictured leaving court

The court heard Ogden made numerous 999 calls to the police using a false name between 4.38pm and 7.50pm demanding cash.

"At 8.20pm, a specialist hostage negotiator was alerted and tasked into negotiations with the defendant.

"They spoke to him on a number of occasions. In the first call, he threatened 'I will watch it burn down from a gas explosion'.

"He referred to the money as 'not a lot for two people's lives' and that he 'didn’t want to do it'."


The court heard that after eight-and-a-half hours, the officer told the defendant he was going to arrange for pizza. to be delivered.

Mr Lowe said: "The money was said to be in the pizza box, but he sent his mother to get it while he remained in the house.

"Armed officers then forced entry and arrested him."

Addressing the teenager, Judge Martin Walsh said: "It's a rather bizarre, desperate nature of offending behaviour here. He needs help doesn't he.

"He's young and his family are standing by him.

"You are 18 and sentenced for a serious series of offences that occurred on March 5. In an act of desperation you made unwarranted demands for money, threatened to kill and injure your mother and cause substantial damage.

"You held her hostage for a period of eight hours. It's bizarre. Panicked by the drug debt that you had.

"There are underlying psychotic issues here."