Man for court on kidnap charges

A man is due to appear in court today charged with the kidnapping of a mother and her young son for ransom.

A man is due to appear in court today charged with the kidnapping of a mother and her young son for ransom.

The 39-year-old is accused of kidnapping the woman and four-year-old boy from their home in Killough, Co Down, last Wednesday.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said the man was due to appear at Belfast Magistrates' Court on six charges in connection with the incident — twoof kidnap, three of false imprisonment and one of robbery.

The terrified mother and son were held for 12 hours in a vacant home in south Belfast while her partner, employed by a financial institution, was told to get cash — believed to be £200,000 — and leave it at a specified point in Belfast.

Police were contacted after the woman freed herself and her son later that evening from the house where they had been held in the Ravenhill area.

They were unhurt but shaken.

The suspect was detained on Saturday along with a 39-year-old woman, who was released without charge yesterday.

PA