Man who abducted girlfriend in car told her 'I'll give you a reason to call police'

A man who abducted his teenage girlfriend in his car before she jumped in terror from the moving vehicle has avoided jail.

Rhys Burnett, 21, detained the 18-year-old girl against her will, driving off at speed.

He was handed a 300-hour unpaid work order, a 12-month curfew, and three years’ supervision instead of jail.

He will also have to attend a domestic offender behaviour change programme and report any new relationships to a social worker.

Explaining that he did not consider custody the only way of dealing with Burnett, Judge Lord Stuart said that he’d suffered “adverse childhood experiences”.

He told him: “Prison will teach you how to make more wrong choices more often.”

But the father of the victim said outside court: “My daughter’s going to be devastated that he’s not got a custodial, because it’s far-reaching for her, this situation.

“Rhys has got a long history of violence against women.

“I understand the reluctance to put people under 25 in prison, but my daughter will be devastated, 100%.”

Burnett, of Wilkieston, West Lothian, pleaded guilty in April to charges of domestic abuse, breach of bail, and abduction and assault to danger of life.

The abduction occurred on July 20 last year.

He appeared for sentence at the High Court in Stirling by a video link from Addiewell Prison where he had been on remand.

The court heard Burnett had been ordered by a sheriff to stay away from his victim after repeatedly abusing her between November 2024 and June 2025.

Burnett, who already had a conviction for abusing another ex-partner, ignored the court order and sent her dozens of threatening texts demanding they meet.

She met him in Livingston and got into the passenger seat of his car. He refused to take the girl home when she asked, instead insisting “I will give you a real reason to phone the police now”.

The court heard how he grabbed the victim’s phone when she tried to message a friend and made threats of violence.

The victim jumped out of the moving car, fearing for her life, hitting her head and back off the ground.

She ran towards a nearby farm, shouting for help, while Burnett followed.

The 59-year-old farmer saw her come towards his house from underneath the gate at the end of his drive, screaming for help.

She said, “Phone the police, phone the police. He’s trying to kill me.”

Burnett appeared, shouting: “Don’t phone the police, what are you phoning the police for?”

Police were called, and the victim was taken to hospital. Doctors found she had a head injury, bruises, and abrasions from hitting the road.

The court heard the victim had concerns about Burnett’s behaviour throughout their relationship, which began in November 2024 and described him as “controlling and possessive”.

He would track her movements via an app installed on her phone and, on one occasion, he drove at speeds of up to 110mph in a 30mph zone as he thought he was being followed by police.

The court also heard that Burnett threatened to tell her bosses at the dentist where she worked that she was leaking patient information. This wasn’t true.

Lord Stuart told Burnett, who has a child by a previous girlfriend: “This was an utterly horrible and unacceptable way to behave towards any human being, but to do so towards someone you presumably would claim you loved and should have protected is even worse.”

He said a social work report suggested supervision in the community was required.

He said: “I infer [from it] that you have learned from your parents to use aggression to control your environment when you feel insecure.

“The report records that you present a risk to women within intimate relationships.

“You’ve had a difficult start in life. Having sat as a judge in the Family Court, I have seen how unstable family environments leave children insecure and how copying of parental behaviour can leave young people learning and using threatening, aggressive and controlling behaviour to cope with their feelings of insecurity.

“It can be heard for us to realise how much of our own personalities are formed before we are old enough to understand why we behave the way we do.

“Every day we face situations where we have to make choices to do the right thing or the wrong thing.

“I recognise that sometimes those choices are very difficult, especially when it goes against our childhood programming.

“You have reached a point in your life where you stand on the edge of going to prison for what could be a relatively long time, and prison will teach you how to make more wrong choices more often.

“If you do not change, you simply risk teaching your own children the same lessons you have learned and trapping them into the life you currently experience.”

Lord Stuart said that the danger to life that the victim faced had been potential rather than actual.

Burnett was also made subject to a non-harassment order to stay away from his victim for life.