Miliband says no to Chandler ransom

Published on Sunday 24 January 2010 22:22

FOREIGN Secretary David Miliband yesterday insisted that the government would not get involved in any ransom payments to secure the release of a British couple kidnapped by pirates in the Indian Ocean.

Mr Miliband said he could not stop private individuals from pursuing the possibility of a ransom deal, but the government had always made it clear that making concessions to hostage-takers was not in Britain's interests.

His comments came days after Paul and Rachel Chandler issued a desperate plea for help, revealing that they had been split up by their captors and feared they could be killed within days.

The couple, from Kent, were taken hostage after heading from the Seychelles towards Tanzania in their yacht Lynn Rival on 23 October last year.

Unconfirmed reports suggest that an attempt by British special forces to free them was "bungled" because of bureaucratic delays and technical problems.

The pirates have said that if the UK government is unwilling to pay for their return, their friends should raise the money.

Mr Miliband said: "Our position is absolutely clear. The British government never makes substantive concessions to hostage-takers, including in respect of ransom payments, and we always advise people of that.

"Can we stop private individuals? No, we can't. But we have a very clear policy of our own and the British government is absolutely clear it is not in our interests."

He added: "Are we working night and day on the Chandler case and a small number of other British nationals who have been kidnapped? Yes we are."

In an interview last week, retired quantity surveyor Mr Chandler, 59, said he was "just existing in hope", adding: "I'm afraid that they will just kill us and abandon us in the desert here."