UK hostage kidnapped in Kenya freed
A Briton seized in a raid in Kenya, in which her husband was killed, has been freed after six months held in Somalia. Judith Tebbutt, 56, is being flown to Nairobi after a ransom, raised by her relatives, was paid for her release. As she left Adado in Somalia, Mrs Tebbutt, from Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, smiled and told reporters she was glad to be safe. Her husband David, 58, was shot by a gang of six men at their remote holiday resort in Kiwayu, north of Lamu island.
Mrs Tebbutt, a social worker, who is believed to be deaf and was wearing a double hearing aid, spoke to reporters before boarding a flight to the Kenyan capital from Adado. In Nairobi, she will be looked after by officials from the British embassy before being flown back to the UK to be reunited with friends and relatives.
It is understood her son Oliver will be in the city to greet her. Mrs Tebbutt was seized on 11 September last year from Kiwayu Safari Village, a luxury resort on a deserted stretch of Kenyan coastline, comprised of thatched cottages on the beach.
The couple had arrived only the previous day and were the only guests.
She was taken away in a speedboat, possibly by Somali pirates, after Mr Tebbutt had been killed. (ANA)
FA/ANA/21 March 2012--------