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A combination photo shows Zekri Gris and his wife, Dina, a Somerset couple who on May 31 admitted falsely imprisoning their Filipino maid for three days. Photos: Facebook

Rich UK couple tied up Filipino maid for three days, after she refused to take part in wife’s ‘sextortion’ plot

A wealthy British couple tied up and imprisoned their Filipino maid after the wife launched a failed plot to pay her to sleep with her husband so she could divorce him, a court heard.

Zekri Gris, 56, a businessman, hired the woman as a cleaner and childminder for his four children. But his wife Dina, 35, offered her GBP200 to have sex with her husband and record it – so she could have evidence of infidelity to use against him in a divorce.

The plot failed and Zekri Gris, who owns shops including newsagents and post offices, accused the maid, Niressa De-Vincente, of stealing money from him, Bristol crown court was told.

He and his wife, who have four boys aged between five and 10 and are Egyptian nationals, tied her up in their GBP650,000 home in Bishop Sutton, Somerset, with a rope and handcuffs. At the time, Zekri Gris was ignorant of his wife’s “sextortion” plot.

They threatened her with a knife to make her “confess” to stealing GBP12,000 – and even filmed the 36-hour ordeal. After three days the maid wriggled free and used the rope to climb out of a window.

Zekri Gris pleaded guilty to one count of false imprisonment and was jailed for three years on Tuesday. His wife admitted the same charge in December and will be sentenced at a later date.

The court was told that De-Vincente, a 36-year-old Filipino, started working for the couple after her student visa had expired.

Ian Penny, prosecuting, said: “Without a large number of Filipino carers the care system would fail. She overstayed and became an illegal immigrant.

“Many illegal immigrants are vulnerable and exploited, whether they are stuck in Calais or crossing the ocean in an inflatable dingy or fall into the clutches of the defendant and his wife.”

Video footage taken by Dina Gris shows the victim sitting on a chair and trussed up with a blue clothesline while her husband shouts at her, accusing her of stealing money. The victim can be seen weeping, with her head bowed.

Penny said: “The video footage paints a disturbing and unattractive picture. It was just a snippet of an ordeal that lasted many, many hours.

“Mr Gris [and Egyptian immigrant] had been in this country long enough to know that it’s unacceptable to truss someone up like a chicken, berate them, assault them and terrify them. He had a knife and he would use that knife to stab the table next to her. He said he would kill her and chop her into pieces like a cow.”

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