Family escape hostage ordeal

A north Belfast bank official’s family who were held hostage last night managed to break free after being held for 12 hours, it has been revealed.

The armed men had kidnapped them on Tuesday evening, and ransom demands were issued the next day.

However, no money was handed over and police said the family are now safe and well.

A PSNI spokesperson said: "This was an extremely distressing ordeal for this family."

North Belfast Assembly member Alban Maguinness said he was appalled by the incident, but said the family had been "very brave".

"This is the first occasion that I have heard where a family has been able to escape and I congratulate them," Mr Maguinness said.

"This is very, very disturbing. I had hoped we had finally seen the end of this type of tiger kidnapping," he continued.

"It is a very serious occurance. It affects a lot of people, not just employed in financial services such as banking, but it affects the community at large because it creates a great degree of uncertainty right across the community."

Detectives are appealing for anyone who may have noticed anything suspicious in the Antrim Road/Fortwilliam area between 11pm on Tuesday and 11am on Wednesday, to contact them.

(JM)